Now lets get to what really annoyed me today... Any politician vying for any position needs to tell us what part he/she would play in cutting down government excesses if hes voted in. If he/she is in favour of it remaining as status quo then he/she isnt serious. The cost of running our government at all levels is astronomical. It boggles the mind. Our government spend too much of our wealth on salaries and allowances, lets even set aside for a moment the vast amount they siphon and steal. The day someone introduced himself to me at the council as the Senior Special Assistant to the Chairman on Political Matters, I had to do a Sorry? Come again. You say you are what now? to him. That is small potatoes. Why we think its normal that the spouse of a LG chairman should have a security detail is beyond me. A typical Local Government Chairman in Nigeria has at least 4 vehicles attached to his personal office. He has a chief of staff, personal assistant, supervisor for special duties etc We have 774 LG areas in Nigeria. Do the math. A prudent governor in Nigeria has a convoy of an official car, 2 utility vehicles, 2 escort vehicles, C.S.O vehicle, police van etc. These cars are fuelled and maintained with state resources. He might even have a private jet...or two. That is a prudent governor o. I dont expect the governor of a state to go about without escorts but the truth is we need to cut down on a lot of governments expenses. A governors personal staff is something else. There is a chief of staff, a deputy chief of staff, numerous Special Advisers, Assistant Special Advisers, Senior Special Assistants, Special Assistants etc and these people all have aides. Some of the governors make up titles on a whim Special Assistant on Nollywood Affairs Special Adviser on Comedy Matters. These are just the staff of the governor. There is still the State Executive Council to look at. The members also have aides carrying briefcases forming busy running after them up and down. The States House of Assembly? Everybody there is an oga commanding assistants, aides and drivers like no mans business. Remember when the wives of Oyo State Legislators travelled to the U.K to learn etiquette and how to be better spouses? They called it Husband Support. On whose dime? Yours and mine. Public funds. We have 36 states in Nigeria. Do the math. But none of these can beat the Federal Government. Those ones are in a special class of their own. Our senators and Reps are in my opinion the worst of the lot. These people are paid over 200 million each per annum to do what? Make laws? Yeah right. These people sit for less than half the year, the other half they are on recess yet their salaries and allowances can give you a heart attack. There are 109 senators and 360 members of the House of Representatives. Do the math. The Presidency? Forget about it. The Presidency is all these and more raised to a power hundred. Go figure. We have parastatals and agencies of government that make no sense. They ought to be scrapped. All the states have boards and commissions that do nothing yet they are serviced with salaries and allowances every month. Do we need to talk about the state private jets and our presidential fleet? I think not. We need to demand that the cost of running our government be reduced. We really need to. We honestly cant continue like this. All those trips to here and there on private jets with public funds should stop. Sit in your office and do your job. You were not elected or appointed to travel round the world like a bottle in the sea. The salaries and allowances of all political office holders at all levels should be reviewed. Some ministers and commissioners are redundant. They are just figure heads. They have no jobs. Ministries are duplicated at state levels under boards and commissions and most of them do nothing. We the citizens need to pay attention to the budget and ask questions.......always ask questions We should demand that government reduce the recurrent expenditure and invest more in education, infrastructure and welfare for the common man. We see governors giving themselves outrageous pensions and we do nothing. We are such a docile nation. I have a headache already. This Is supposed to be a democracy not an oligarchy. #CutDownGovernmentExcesses
Posted on: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 22:49:46 +0000
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