The monthly revenue allocation to the three tiers of government for the
month of June justifies the arduous cleansing work the regime of President
Muhammadu Buhari has undertaken since it came on stream on May 29, 2015.
The cash-starved tiers of Nigerian government were still smarting and
bleeding profusely from a combination of scorching corrupt acts that
practically crumbled the country before Buhari came, the astronomical
slump in the price of oil; the mono commodity that has fuelled Nigeria’s
economy as well as its legendary profligacy and the vengeful actions of a
politically-tainted war of attrition by the so-called Niger Delta
Avengers. The monthly monetary sharing ritual that serves as fuel to the
three tiers of Nigerian government, had, in the sequel, became a mirthless
exercise where paltry amounts were shared for attending to the mounting
multifarious challenges of governance in Nigeria. At one of such sharing
exercises, a state ended up with a mere N6 million which was reported as
not enough to pay the monthly electricity bill of the government
ministries in the state. With the combination of the factors above, it
seemed the world had crumbled for many States as their dependence on
monthly revenue allocations continued to fail them badly.
But the June allocation was different. A princely sum of N559 billion,
N200 billion more than the previous months allocation, was shared to the
three tiers of government. Governors wearing wrinkled faces as the
challenges of paying workers salaries mounted, must have had their faces
creased with smiles at that pleasant development. Hopes must have been
re-activated that indeed governance in Nigeria which had been threatened
by insolvency, is on the rebound. Reports said that the June allocation
remains the highest in two years! When we note that these two years
included the period when oil sold up to $140 per barrel and Nigeria
exceeded its OPEC supply quota, there is need to ask what magic came into
play in June. What happened? Did the country hit a jackpot? When we note
that the foolish actions of the so-called avengers have even halved
Nigeria’s oil production quota and oil price is sluggishly climbing just
above the budget benchmark, more puzzles gush out. Just pray, what really
happened?
These puzzles were addressed by the details that attended the June
allocation. These formed the indexes for the exercise as well as answers
to the question attending this spurt of good fortune. When we probe
further, there is a silent optimism that Nigeria is on the part of
revival-thanks to the frugal, accountable, cleaning, sanitisation efforts
of the Change government of President Buhari. Here are some of the details
attending the June revenue allocation, as has been enumerated by the
Finance Minister and further accentuated by the boss of the Federal Inland
Revenue Services;
– 70 per cent of the revenue shared in June comes from non oil sectors.
– This is the first time in Nigerian history of oil politics that the
country achieved that hefty feat.
– The allocation was 83.2 per cent more than the previous allocation and
kick started the process of rescuing Nigeria from insolvency.
– By December, 2016, the country projects to have over 90 per cent of its
budgetary revenue from non oil sectors.
Gleaning all above, there is the message embedded in the exercise that
Nigeria is irrevocably on the mend through deliberate acts of facial
discipline, cut in the humongous cost of governance, entrenched anti
corruption template; all integral and critical parts of the Buhari
government. There is a deeper message that Nigeria can survive the curse
of oil which governments before Buhari’s have entrenched and which fuels
the nay saying orientation of the agnostics that believe that President
Buhari’s government will not take Nigeria out of the woods the previous
governments ran it into. Still in the lessons of this cheery development
that Nigeria can rightly be recovered from a seemingly certain path of
doom past regimes prodded it to with their uncurbed profligacy.
But did Nigeria hit a jackpot? Yes and that jackpot is the cleansing works
President Buhari’s government has done to governance since that regime
berthed. Despite the deadly onslaught of those who see no future with
cessation of official corruption, the Buhari government had been
unflagging in dealing this cankerworm a red eye. Outright stealing and
primordial looting of the commonwealth that surged to a dizzying height
during the Jonathan regime Buhari succeeded, has stopped. Taking
uncensored liberty with public fund has been stopped, running innumerable
fonts for siphoning public resources by political office holders, their
cronies and civil servants have been plugged. It is no more business as
usual. Fly in the night party bogey men who become instant millionaires
after one pilgrimage to Aso Rock have become things of the past. A
sybaritic cult of predators and political loafers who do nothing than
pimping in the verandah of power and getting a huge cut of the national
patrimony has been annihilated. Buffoons and layabouts that feed off state
resources, trading in dubious contracts and receiving illicit concessions
aimed at stealing public funds have been ran into extinction. A culture of
padding government payroll with millions of phantom workers has been
busted and carefulness, discipline and frugality have been brought to save
as much as possible for the Nigerian people.
The question to the scoffing cult of die hard nay Sayers who are yet to
heal from the drubbing Buhari gave the old rotten order and who have in
their entrenched bitterness grown incurably blind to the revival the
government is doing in Nigeria remains; would the unbelievable scenario of
government getting more revenue to share in a period of austerity be
possible if not for what this regime has been doing since it came to
power? Could the wailing wailers, inconsolable beneficiaries of rot and
dirt wager that continuing what they know best would have navigated the
country out of the Sheol when oil price nose dived to $28 per barrel?
Could those raising dubious baleful cries of hunger today tell us the
possible scenario we would have been faced had Buhari not come to do what
he is doing today? Today’s Venezuela would have told a more cheery picture
of what Nigeria would have been had Buhari not come and had he not
employed his winnowing fork to sweep off the accumulated dirt that has
hobbled Nigeria for several decades.
We know the victims of Buhari’s winnowing fork are many and these are the
hordes of beneficiaries from the rot and dirt that was brought in to
defraud and wreck the country before he came. They are so riled at the
cleansing work going on today that they are virtually on the brinks of
mental breakdown. They are the sons and daughters of filth who would
rather the old stale order from which the stole, revelled and partied at
the expense of the country, is left unscathed. They are those who have
naively invested in the continuation of the same jaded ways for their
continued survival but who lost all their deposits with the coming of
President Buhari and the measures he had taken to recover the mileage
these locusts have devoured of the country. They have become mortal
enemies of Buhari who are wont to develop instant paranoia with the
mention of his name but they are eating themselves up in vain. The
cleansing of Nigeria is an idea whose time had come for that holds the
chord for the continued existence, health and growth of the country.
All said, Buhari’s winnowing fork with which he is parking the dirt and
debris that have accumulated for decades remain the only way Nigeria will
miss total bankruptcy. There is no alternative to what he is doing; not in
the least, the culture of Byzantine brigandage and free loading that
Buhari succeeded. His winnowing fork remains the reason why the country is
beginning to reap bountifully in an era of recession. His cleansing acts
have ensured that our collective patrimony remains intact for our
collective well being and not to serve the self-serving interests of a
cult of political profiteers and swindlers that live off the life blood of
ordinary Nigerians. Most importantly, his winnowing fork is navigating the
country away from the lazy route of total dependence on oil to harvesting
the fruits of our hands. His winnowing fork is trashing out the chaffs,
gathering the grains and most importantly redirecting Nigeria and
Nigerians to the paths of rectitude, transparency and frugality; a path we
long departed from and landed where we are today.
Peter Claver Oparah
Ikeja, Lagos.
E-mail: peterclaver2000@yahoo.com