During the week, it was widely reported that the Permanent Secretary, Special Duties, Federal Ministry of Finance, Mr. Okokon Udo also joined others to stress the need for cost-cutting in governance at all levels in Nigeria.
Mr Udo also went ahead to submit that the challenge of lean economic resources is being faced by the government at the center.
He was also quick to reason that the needs of the citizenry are on the increase, hence the need for the establishment of the efficiency unit by the Federal Government to reduce wastages, block leakages and cut costs in all Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
In reality, Nigerian civil servants and political office holders may find this difficult to swallow because of the entrenched culture of wastage and over-inflation of contracts and others. And this is definitely not restricted to the government at the center.
Outlook
However, observers have been quick to note that if the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is bold enough to remove fuel subsidy, he should be able to exercise more gallantry by asking the National Assembly to immediately jump-start moves to cut down cost of governance especially by amending relevant sections of the country’s laws to accommodate the much needed sacrifice.
It is only by doing this that the Tinubu government can secure the much desired trust it needs to stabilize its administration.
In addition to cutting down cost, FG also needs to immediately institutionalize the culture of transparency and full respect for the rule of law.
Nigerians, for now are merely watching with keen interest and maintaining what some will call, ‘the peace of the graveyard’ because of the current hardship they are facing.
President Tinubu as the captain of the Nigerian ship must, by design and determination do what is right at all times so that his leadership style can be emulated by others down to the levels of Councilors at the Local Government.
Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!
