Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has advised the country’s leaders to embrace ‘basic common sense’ and reduce the astronomical cost of governance.
The former Central Bank Governor said the current structure sees the government spend 80-90 per cent of earnings on public officers and their litany of aides.
Emir Sanusi made the assertion on Thursday during the inaugural lecture of Sikiru Adetona, the Awujale of Ijebu land.
“You sometimes wonder if anyone needs to tell any group of persons that you don’t need 36 governors, 36 deputy governors, each with commissioners, special advisers, a president, his vice, 36 ministers.”
“Simple arithmetic would tell that if you have this structure, you are, first of all, doomed to spend 80 per cent to 90 per cent of your earnings in maintaining these public officers.”
“This is really a big problem in Nigeria. I remember as the CBN governor when I raised the point that 80 per cent of government revenue was being used to maintain 1 million public officers, leaving 20 per cent for over 160 million Nigerians, my state governor reacted by saying the federal government was planning to recruit more people.”
“The situation we are in isn’t an unforeseen one so we need to go back to the basics and basic common sense by tailoring our political system to the level of development and resources of the country. We need to free up the resources and invest them so as to free ourselves from these problems we are having.”
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