ExpdonaLoaded.blogspot.com (+2348097205188): Expdonaloaded News; And After the Bailout

Nigerians are among the least patient people anywhere, yet they are also among the most content, even with very small gestures. This was what made it possible for a sizeable chunk of the Nigerian electorate to literally haul their plebiscite at the feet of the All Progressives Congress (APC) upon the unwritten testament of their confidence in the integrity and incorruptibility of Muhammadu Buhari’s personage and the unqualified promise of change
– the talisman of campaign issued by his Party. This also accounts for the already rampant misgivings and impatience of the people over the seeming inaction of the new government only barely a month after it took the mantle of power. Nigerians lost their patience with the then lucky Goodluck Jonathan, nearly two years into his own tenure of governance and he ran out of luck with the electorate who voted massively for him in the belief that he would wrought the desired transformation of the society on account of his pedigree as a well-schooled person and as a humble former pauper from the marginalised, sub-altern South South. Usually or is it traditionally? Nigerians begin to draw scorecards after the first One Hundred Days of a new government. In the case of President Muhammadu Buhari, they could hardly wait for the first month to pass before evaluating his achievements. They have voted for him on account of the soporific effect of the magic wand of change effectively canvassed in the campaigns and their loss of patience and confidence in the government of Ebele Jonathan—a frustration and disillusionment which made them surrender to the change agenda without any tabled agenda. They cannot wait for the rhapsody and the tornado of change to sweep the nation off its feet; they expect Buhari to hit the ground running; bring automatic change. Instead, they sense creeping inertia and seeming procrastination. They cannot give him the benefit of the doubt that they gave his predecessors! They forgot that the APC did not give them any programme of action, any structured agenda of the change they promised or any strategic plan of delivery. Now, it appears that the new contraption of a mega party at the centre has not yet been able to neither cohere into a formidable machine of governance nor stabilise into a democratic instrument of national transformation and development. Issues of internal democracy which they christen party supremacy and party discipline has at this incipient stage, burst the party at the seams and the constituting bodies of the party are still scrambling for spheres of influence and basket sharing to be able to give the man at the centre the expedient institution of governance upon which meaningful change can be erected. But the people’s expectations and honed appetite cannot wait for the internal bickering and squabbles in the ruling party. That is the state of affairs as President Buhari tries to understand his mandate and set out to fulfill it to the seeming insatiable thirst of the electorate who are already belly-aching over every little step that the President has taken. Appointments are coming in trickles and are perceived late in coming; charges of imbalance and defiance of federal character are being leveled even in the token appointments so far made; cabinet is not yet formed, even the essential appointment of a Chief of Staff and Secretary to the Federal Government which many consider as an easy task is being allegedly tardily handled. These are the products and consequences of disproportionate expectations from a government of change! Meanwhile, certain critical and attractive steps have been taken which should begin to point a positive direction and path that the government intends to follow and tread. The cut in emoluments of the President and his Deputy, the refusal to purchase posh armoured cars for his comfort, the stern steps in the direction of the NNPC which is already giving the immediate past President cause for worry, the determined action to terminate Boko Haram’s rampaging insurgents; are all edifying measures signaling the preparation towards structured change agenda that may be on the way. In addition to these salutary measures are the gestures of the bailout (of over 400 billion naira) to relieve the burden of unpaid salaries in states which has generated mounting discontent in the states. There is also the gesture to reduce the exchange rate of the naira for pilgrims—from over N240 per dollar to N160 for Christian pilgrims. I am more concerned with the former—the bailout or doleout or whatever name is given to the very important step taken by President Buhari to alleviate the suffering of workers in many states who have passed through untold hardships from unpaid wages by state governments. Various reactions have trailed this critical step of government— ranging from commendation to condemnation. Again, this is a manifestation of the complexity in the character Nigerian in her diversities and divergences. I align myself with Femi Falana and others who support the bailout as any legitimate action taken by government in the direction of the working class must find favour with all patriots and people-oriented, discerning minds. It is not the fault of the labour force if the state governments run either profligate or prodigal or both and thus fall short of their commitment to the state and its workers. The workers’ only means of livelihood is the emolument at the end of every month. A situation in which state governments, under whatever guise, deprive the workers of their pay is unacceptable in any working democracy and every responsible government at the centre must, as President Buhari has done, device legitimate means of rescuing the situation—irrespective of what nomenclature is assigned by analysts to that effort. Now, what at the grounds upon which the constitutionality or legality of the 413.17 billion naira bailout is being questioned? Gabriel Amalu, who ends up attesting to the legality of the action of the President on the strength of the provision of the Appropriation Act of 2015 on ‘an expenditure within the contemplation of the contingencies fund of the federation’, had earlier in his article (The Nation, July 14) raised issues over its constitutionality and thus legality. Citing sections of the 1999 constitution, he argues that the fund being an accrual from the NNLG to the federation account requires to have had the approval of the National Assembly before disbursement by the President. Happily, his earlier explanation that the appropriation act gives a leeway for the disbursement, attests to the legitimacy of the action. What seems to me of significance in the action of the President is the instruction that the legitimate magnanimity should not be made expedient by all tiers of government any further. State governments should be more creative in the way they disburse funds accruing to them (or shared) from the federation account in prudently re-investing a part of such sums, as the Federal government has done in investing in the NNLG. Furthermore, they should prioritise their expenditure in such a way that salaries and emoluments of workers never suffer neglect as has been the case in some of the instances in some states where spending on otherwise progressive activities is given as reason/excuse for punishing poorly paid workers with the insensitive act of non-payment of salaries for several months! The constant tendency to blackmail the federal government to share out funds accruing from excess crude without intending to creatively utilise the funds should be frowned upon at all levels of analysis.