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| President Muhammadu Buhari |
The rising cost of governance as well as the nation's mounting debts, particularly under the president Muhammadu Buhari government, has been a major cause for worry, and further heightened calls for the federal government to by all means, cut costs. But, how to go about it has been a bone of contention.
There were a handful of suggestions such as reducing or merging ministries, reducing representation at the National Assembly, salary reduction or even scraping one or both Houses of the National Assembly.
But in his own advice to the Buhari government on the matter, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Salisu Natoro, wants the federal government to change the status of civil servants in the country, to contract workers, a move which according to Na-allah Mohammed Zagga, a Consultant at Atiku Media Organization, would amount to treating civil servants as 'Guinea Pigs'.
Zagga who is from Kebbi state, but based in the nation's capital, Abuja, said the focus should be on the nation's National Assembly which gulps billions of naira in annual budgetary allocations with little or nothing to show for it.
Responding to Natoro's advice to the Federal Government via a Facebook post, Zagga said, "Don't make the civil servants the guinea pigs for reducing the costs of governance.
"Haba Alhaji Natoro! We have 109 Senators and 360 House of Reps members in the country who are receiving outrageous and hefty pay cheques. Each of the 109 Senators collects N13.5 million monthly as so-called running cost.
"If we are truly concerned about the costs of governance, Nigeria should turn to part time legislation. When this proposal was presented to the lawmakers during the 2012 public hearings on constitutional amendments, the idea was instantly given a kiss of death for obvious reasons.
"Why are politicians like Natoro dodging the issue and always putting the saddle on the wrong horse? Why does politics have such incredibly magnetic attraction in the country? Politics is supposed to be public service, but in practice, it's a gravy train in Nigeria.
"If you put a lawmaker on N500,000 monthly salary for part time legislation, how many of them would be keen to contest in the first place? Senate President Ahmed Lawan recently claimed that, contrary to public opinion, they only collect N750,000 per each as monthly salary.
"You think a politician will spend N500 million to N1billion for election or reelection for the sake of N750,000 salary per month? Why are even former Governors keen to go to the Senate after completing their eight-year tenure? Listen to yourself Natoro!"
Since Buhari came to power in 2015, the nation's annual budget has more than tripled, rising from around N4 trillion under the Jonathan administration, to now over N16 trillion, with plans to foot the deficit through loans.