As expectation continues to fiercely fistfight with reality, and as we choose to
face the facts and phase out the fallacies, it is certain that Nigeria, under
President Muhammadu Buhari, is sitting pretty deep in the valley of the
shadow of debt.

Speaking with reporters recently in Abuja, President Buhari painted a very
discouraging picture of the state of the Nigerian state in these few words: “…
this culture of 100 days is bringing so much pressure with (the) treasury virtually
empty, with debts in millions of dollars, with state workers and even federal
workers not paid their salaries is such a disgrace for Nigeria…”

The above statement made by the President, and a few more by his deputy,
Yemi Osinbajo, has given us the necessary insight into the intenseness of the
“horror movie” the presidential economic management team may be watching
now in Aso Rock. But unfortunately, there is no gory picture the President can
paint about the economy that will diminish the high expectations of
performance and success Nigerians have about his government. My President
must remember that.

Between 2011 and 2014, a whopping N41.6tn was reportedly realised as
revenue from crude oil sales, taxes, and duties. During that period, the three
tiers of government, federal, state and local governments shared a whopping
N29.26tn. All the state governors then were smiling to the bank every month.

Today, 23 states in Nigeria owe between three and 12 months’ workers’
salaries. Enugu State is the biggest debtor owing parastatals 12 months; and
pension and gratuity payment for five years, according to a recent report of
the Nigeria Labour Congress. It is now apparent that non-payment of workers’
salaries has become a crippling epidemic in a prosperous country like Nigeria.

Many of the affected states have shouldered some major road projects that
are the Federal Government’s jurisdictional responsibilities. They committed
billions of naira into these endeavours with promises of prompt refund from a
Federal Government whose word was apparently not its bond. For example, my
home state of Osun committed billions to major Federal Government road
projects; and it’s yet to get a refund so it can pay its workers.

Until lately, the working condition in Osun was pleasant. For four consecutive
years since December 2010, the state government consistently offered to pay
an extra month salary called “13th month salary” to workers just to inspire and
keep them loving what they do. Governor Rauf Aregbesola did not have to do
it. Salaries were paid regularly on or before the 25th day of every month and
the governor creatively shot up the state IGR to about N9bn annually from a
paltry N900m before he came on board. Following the minimum wage increase
in 2012, salaries and emoluments later incrementally jumped from N1.4 billion
in November 2010 to N3.6bn. The highest Osun received in statutory allocation
was N5.5bn in February 2013; and around this figure, lofty accomplishments
were recorded for all eyes to see. By July 2013 in a terrifying twist, allocation
to all states dropped by 40 per cent; and now by nearly 80 per cent as a result
of global oil crisis. Now, all the 23 states are scorched up in the valley of the
shadow of debt.

But how do we get out of this? President Buhari must plug all leakages around
crude oil business; our governors and leaders must be re-orientated on
personal and business conducts in office; and we must trim our bloated
workforce while emphasising personal responsibility.

Crude oil is Nigeria’s mainstay shovelling in over 70 per cent of the nation’s
revenue; but a chunk of the product continues to fall into wrong hands. Before
the global drop in oil prices, our fortunes had already begun dwindling because
of the daily dastardly heisting of 400,000 barrels of crude oil totalling N4.8
billion. The Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was
the first to reveal this in July 2013 as a known Niger Delta ex-militant was
contracted to provide security and prevent crude oil thieving. The notable ex-
militant was reportedly paid N1.5bn monthly; this hint was dropped by the first
chairman of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Dr.
Ahmed Ramalan, earlier in the year. The heinous haemorrhaging of the crude,
however, continues until today.

Although the international audit firm, Price Waterhouse Cooper, later confirmed
the allegation in a forensic audit, when a former governor of the Central Bank
of Nigeria, now the Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi, alleged that $20bn oil money
was not remitted into the Federation Account by the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation, he was pushed into troubled waters. Sanusi could have
drowned in politics of revenge and avenge, but the palace in Kano became his
sanctuary, and the power vested in an Emir, his lifeguard. Too much dirt hang
around oil business in Nigeria; and the mess is driven by two seemingly
competing parallel governments-the Federal Government of Nigeria and the
Federal Government of the NNPC.

Before she left office, Okonjo-Iweala had claimed that the total Excess Crude
revenue from 2011 to 2014 was N2.92tn; but some independent investigation
puts the true amount at N18.5tn. Where is the difference of N15tn? The NNPC
runs multiple bank accounts running into billions of dollars that its officials
can’t even name. Over 5.5 billion pounds has been reportedly lost between
1999 and 2011 because of fuzzy accounting procedures which came from
undertaxing, underpayment, and incomplete transactions in the sales of crude
oil. There is a pending audit query issued by the Auditor-General of the
Federation to the NNPC over another unremitted N2.3tn.

We also recently heard that the Nigerian Extracting Industries Transparency
Initiative found out that Nigeria made the sum of $1.8bn from the sale of eight
oil wells to the NNPC. Only $100m was remitted to the Federation Account.
What happened to the difference of $1.7bn? It may have travelled on a jet or
submarine very far from the Nigerian shores.

Some of our states are in trouble today because the governors are personally
irresponsible and ethically disabled. Some governors have stopped governing;
they are gulping. They are profligate by political indoctrination, insensitive to
the plight of the people by nature, unlearned and never-learning. They do not
have a clue about financial literacy; and to some of them, government money
is the Governor’s personal savings account. With billions collected monthly
from all manner of sources, their states are still comatose. The same
dilapidated buildings and raggedy roads they inherited four years ago continue
to be the testimony of abhorrence as they audaciously live like King-Kong
amassing wealth and wives. One governor was just forced to return 22
vehicles bought from public funds for three of his legion of wives. This state in
question is among those that have not paid workers salaries for seven months.

Good governance is about the mindset of a leader; if the mindset is warped,
the whole state territory is enmeshed in warts. Personal irresponsibility and
ethical disability are part of the reasons why our feet are deep in the valley of
the shadow of debt.

I hereby declare that for every right, there is a corresponding responsibility. It
is the right of workers to get paid; and it is also the responsibility of the
worker to be productive. A worker who adds no value to his work community
is nothing but a parasite, a moocher, and a freeloader that must be offloaded
and tossed off into the high current waters of irrelevance like the biblical
Jonah. Not until our governments face the reality of bloated and ghost
workforce; not until redundant hands that have outlived their usefulness in
service are bid bye-bye, we will remain in asinine status quo that got our feet
in the valley of the shadow of debt in the first place.

www.punchng.com/opinion/nigeria-in-the-valley-of-the-shadow-of-debt/

lalasticlala, Seun, ishilove

This serious, we need military to take over..




and why are we nigerians not helping matters,

Tru democracy govt lies within d masses.


Arise 'o Nigerians and fight for your limited life.
Lets build our economy ourselves and stop waiting for some nuisance dat call themselves politicians.

Take up d challenge and be a dangote that cares less bout a useless govt.

Iweala was a curse on this country.
Hopefully , buhari will put professionals with a little bit of activism ,in all revenue generating agencies of governance. E.g
NNPC
port authority
Aviation
Customs
Immigration
Mining and licensing
Fisheries