Implosion in the
Home SCNC?
COTE D'IVOIRE:
UN Investigation
Report on the March
25 Massacre
COTE D'IVOIRE:
Gbagbo left isolated
after outburst
CAMEROON ON THE
BRINK OF WAR:
THE HIGH STAKES OF
A CRUCIAL
ELECTORAL YEAR
Firing Rumsfeld or
Prosecuting the War
Criminal
FG, 27 states pay special advisers N1.3bn yearly
Mixed reactions trail UNILAG’s dress code
De-emphasise money politics, Marwa tells Nigerians
Let local govts control their allocations ----NULGE chiefs
De-emphasise money politics, Marwa tells Nigerians
By Lekan Sanni, Daily Independent Online, Monday, June 21, 2004
CORRESPONDENT, Lagos
The clamour for good governance by Nigerians would remain elusive unless politicians and the electorate alike de-emphasise money politics, former Lagos State Military Administrator Mohammed Marwa said at the weekend.
He also identified “honesty, integrity, high intellectual capacity, proven track records of service and the fear of God” as attributes future political leaders should possess.
Delivering a lecture on governance at the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), Marwa said money politics could not ensure the emergence of good leaders for the country and stressed that the electorate need identify leaders with genuine intentions.
Marwa added that the high cost of elections should be a source of concern to the citizens. His words: “Having identified the crucial role of leadership towards good governance, it becomes incumbent upon us to always ensure that our votes in future elections go to Nigerians of honour, integrity, high intellectual capacity and above all, Nigerians who put God first in all their endeavours.
“We must down play the influence of money. Do not think of the N50 that will be put inside a loaf of bread and given on voting day but think of the benefits that will accrue in future”.
To him, the people need leaders who would ensure health care delivery, qualitative and affordable education, good roads, housing and efficient transport system.
Marwa expressed concern over escalating poverty in the country as well as rising unemployment, “twin drives of social vices”, and called for concerted efforts by both the public and private sectors to solve the problems.
He applauded the Federal Government for the steps taken so far to tackle poverty and urged Nigerians to support it in the fight against corrupt officers.
Earlier, in his opening remarks, UNILORIN Vice Chancellor Shamsudeen Amali described Marwa as “an eminent Nigerian and a successful administrator” with a track record of service to his fatherland.
Among others present at the occasion were former Military Administrator of Bauchi and Osun States Theophilus Bamigboye, Ilorin Descendants Union President Abdullahi Atanda and former Lagos State Finance Commissioner Mohammed Olagbaye.
And also at Eruwa in Oyo State at the weekend, Marwa, while delivering a lecture on democracy and grassroots participation, called on voters to elect the right kind of leadership to steer the ship of state after the Obasanjo Presidency.
According to him, the problems of the country are enormous, “they cannot be solved in four or eight years, therefore men of proven integrity who would not steal the nation’s money should be elected”.
Let local govts control their allocations ----NULGE chiefs
By Victor Ebimomi, Daily Independent Online, Monday, June 21, 2004.
REPORTER, Lagos
The situation where local government allocations have to pass through their state governments before getting to them has been identified as the loophole that allows the state governments to misuse the councils’ resources.
The National President of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) Mr. Deji Akinwalere who made this assertion in an interview advised that the practice must be stopped while local governments money should be given directly to them so that they can perform their obligations to the electorate.
According to him, about N700billion belonging to the local governments have so far been misused by the state governments wondering how development can be achieved at grassroots in such atmosphere.
He regretted that the relationship between the local governments and state was just like that of master-servantwhich gives the latyter the power to dictate virtually everything for the former including withholding their money.
Comparing Nigeria to South Africa, he said there was a wide gulf between local government administrations in the two countries.
“ In South Africa, it is cooperative and collaboration rather control. Councils are allowed to operate to a good extent without interference by the states. But here state governments are just misusing local government money. That is why there is need to direct local government money directly to them” he said, adding that on no account should local government money be managed by people other than the people at the local government level. The elected people at the grassroots, he maintain need to show that they own the people an obligations to serve them and not those at the higher levels of government.
Mixed reactions trail UNILAG’s dress code
By Fabian Ozor, Daily Independent Online, Monday, June 21, 2004.
SENIOR CORRESPONDENT, Lagos
Mixed reactions have continued to trail the recently introduced dress code by the Senate of the University of Lagos, Akoka, for students on the campus.
While some academic and non-academic staff as well as students commended the move, some academic staff have criticised it, saying it is encroaching on the rights of the students.
In an interview with Daily Independent, some lecturers who would not want their names mentioned described it as a welcome development, saying that it is long overdue.
According to them, the way the students dress, mostly female students, to classes puts some of them off when teaching in the classroom, saying that sometime, it sends wrong signals to young lecturers.
“It is a welcome development because the way they dress affects the attitude of the lecturers towards them. An innocent minded lecturer who is saddled with the burden of academics may not think of any unwholesome act but as soon as the girl comes to his office in such dress, it might send wrong signal,” they said.
The lecturers pledged to implement the recommendations of the university’s Senate and warned students who are in the habit of such dressing to change or face open disgrace.
However, those who oppose the Senate’s decision said the law has eroded the principle of fundamental human rights, arguing that students have the right to wear whatever they like. They added that any lecturer whom because of the way some students dress failed to deliver his/her lectures has evil intentions.
FG, 27 states pay special advisers N1.3bn yearly
Our correspondents, The Punch, Monday June 21, 2004
Ballooning number of political aides of governors and their deputies and attendant high maintenance cost have become worrisome to public affairs experts who say that their output do not justify the cost.
A PUNCH survey of The Presidency, the 27 states and Abuja shows that aides assisting the chief executives and their deputies are about 1,031, including 253 special advisers. According to figures obtained from the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, they earn N7.9 million each for the Presidency, and about N5.1million each for states annually.
The 27 states have 238 special advisers leaving the balance of 15 for The Presidency.
The survey shows that The Presidency and the 27 states and Abuja spend about N1.3 billion annually to maintain special advisers alone. The figures from the commission figures did not indicate the salaries and allowances of other categories of personal staff maintained by the federal and state chief executives.
The survey covered Adamawa; Akwa Ibom; Anambra; Bayelsa; Delta; Ebonyi; Edo; Ekiti; Enugu; Imo; Jigawa; Kaduna; and Katsina.
Others were Kebbi; Kogi; Kwara; Lagos; Nasarawa; Niger; Ogun; Oyo; Plateau; Rivers; Sokoto; Zamfara and the Ministry of Federal Capital Territory.
According to the commission, the basic salary of a special adviser to the governor is fixed at N500,044.00 per annum. In addition, he receives the following percentages of the basic annual salary as allowances: accommodation, 100% (N500, 044); transport 350 per cent (N1,750,154); utility 20 per cent (N100,008.80); domestic staff 75 per cent (N375,033); entertainment 10 per cent (N50,004.4); furniture allowance 300 per cent (N1,500,132); p/a 20 per cent (N100,011); motor vehicle maintenance and fuelling 20 per cent (N100,132) and leave 10 per cent (N50, 004.40).
At the federal level, the salary is N777,150.00 in addition to allowances such as accommodation 100 per cent (777,150); transport 350 per cent (2,720,025.00); utility 20 per cent (N155,430); domestic staff 75 per cent (N582,862.50); entertainment 10 per cent (N77,715.00); furniture 300 per cent (N2,331,450)) PA 25 per cent (N194,287.50); vehicle maintenance and fuelling 30 per cent (N233,145); and leave 10 per cent (N77,715.00).
The figures, however, exclude medical and security allowances, which are to be paid “in kind.”
According to the survey, which assumes that all the states adhered to the commission’s scale that they are obligated by law to abide with, the governors and their deputies also appointed senior special assistants (157); special assistants (385); press secretaries (63); personal assistants (109); and other categories of staff (22).
Meanwhile, The Presidency also retains a retinue of other aides including Senior Special Assistants (13), Special Assistants (25), and Personal Assistants (4).
Although government officials, in the absence of official figures from the commission, would not disclose the income of these categories of personal aides, unofficial sources put their expenses to tax payers’ at between N80, 000 and N150, 000 monthly, depending on the positions, suggesting that overall cost of maintenance of the aides may be double the amount fixed for special advisers.
However, public affairs analysts on Sunday said the unwieldy population of aides was a drain on public treasury, as the political appointees had not shown any utility value.
Professors of Political Science at the University of Ibadan, Alex Gboyega and Femi Otubanjo; former deputy director-general, defunct Center for Democratic Studies, Prof. John Ayoade; and Head of Political Science Department, Lagos State University, Dr. Abubakar Momoh, agreed in separate interviews with our correspondents that most of the aides appointed by the state chief executives were not adding value to governance.
Ayoade explains, “They are not appointed on the basis of their competence because when you look at the job specifications of special assistants, most of them do not fit the description at all. Whatever happens, they are not adding value to governance or service delivery.
“ This is because they are not competent, too many and because there is nothing such as intellectual enrichment, which they are giving to the states concerned.”
Momoh agreed with Ayoade, explaining further that the problem was that politicians saw the appointments as “job for the boys”.
Some of the chief executives, he said, appointed their relations even when it was obvious that they had no requisite qualification to hold the positions.
Gboyega emphasised that most of the aides amounted to a colossal waste of public funds and redundancy in government, arguing that their appointments were not necessary because cabinet officers or civil servants were already handling most of their portfolios.
“If you are talking about an adviser who has technical competence, which is unavailable in the civil service, it is understandable. But the number could be very few,” he said, adding that there was an urgent need for governors to reduce the size of their aides in the public interest.
He said governors ought to rely on the civil service and the Houses of Assembly for specialised advice, adding that if the commissioners in charge of state ministries were incompetent they should be removed and replaced with capable ones.
But Otubanjo disagreed with his colleagues, saying even if the appointments were a hole in the coffers of the state, the negative political implications of not making the appoints could be counter-productive.
He said political considerations had informed the appointment of many of the aides, pleading that politician s be pardoned for the extravagant appointments.
“With political calculations in mind, what might appear economically unwise might be the best political option,” he explained.
The Presidency and governors derive their powers to appoint aides from section s 151(1)(2) and 191(1) of the 1999 Constitution respectively, which enable them to appoint special advisers to assist them in the discharge of their duties.
The numbers and the remuneration of the aides are, however, to be determined by the Houses of Assembly as specified by section 191(2).
But, while the governors were limited by the constitution, through the legislature, on the number of special advisers they could appoint, they enjoyed sufficient latitude to make other appointments at their pleasure.
This perhaps explains why, for instance, Governor Joshua Dariye appointed nine special advisers along with 175 special assistants.
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