BY JIDE AYOBOLU<\/p>\n
Right from the onset, it is imperative to underscore the fact that the
\nNigeria economy is not very strong. The present administration led by
\nPresident Muhammadu Buhari inherited an ebbing and wobbling economy from
\nthe PDP, after years of glaring economic mismanagement. The new
\ngovernment has worked relentlessly and assiduously to pull the country
\nout of recession as well as prudently manage the unpredictable economy.
\nThis administration is not pretending that it has the magic wand to wave
\naway all the enormous economic challenges overnight and pronto, make
\nNigeria an al dorado; of the process of revamping the economy would be
\ntedious and take some doings, and this is exactly that the government is
\ndoing.<\/p>\n
Therefore, Sequel to the presentation of the 2020 Appropriation Bill to
\nthe National Assembly, President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the
\nimmediate suspension of international travels by all Cabinet Members and
\nHeads of Government Agencies as to enable ministers personally lead the
\nprocess of budget defence at the National Assembly. This is according to
\na communique by Willie Bassey, director of information, office of
\nSecretary to the Government of the Federation. Mr Bassey notes that the
\nsuspension of such travels will enable Functionaries and Agencies of the
\nExecutive Arm to provide the required cooperation with the Legislature
\nin order to ensure timely passage of the Appropriation Bill.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonourable Ministers who have already secured approval to travel are
\nby this directive, required to revalidate such approvals with Mr.
\nPresident after confirming the Schedule of Appearances with the relevant
\nCommittees of the National Assembly. \u201cFurthermore, all Ministries,
\nDepartments and Agencies (MDAs) have been directed to liaise with the
\nrelevant committees of the National Assembly for their Schedules of
\nBudget defence,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n
It would be recalled that, the federal government has directed all its
\ndirectors-general, managing directors and executive secretaries to start
\nflying economy class on all local and international flights. A previous
\ndirective issued in April 2016 banned ministers and other federal
\ngovernment officials from flying first class. The latest circular, dated
\nNovember 2, 2016, reads thus: \u201cIn view of the ensuing budgetary and
\nfiscal challenges faced by the federal government arising from low oil
\nrevenue, it has become necessary to review the Guidelines for Local and
\nInternational Travels as provided for in Circular Ref. No. SGF.
\n6\/S.2\/X\/545 of 31st March, 2016, with a view to further prune recurrent
\nexpenses on travels and tours.<\/p>\n
\u201cAccordingly, government has decided that all civil and public
\nservants in the rank of Directors and below in federal ministries,
\ndepartments and agencies as well as Chief Executive Officers (Managing
\nDirectors, Executive Secretaries, Directors-General, etc) of federal
\ngovernment parastatals, agencies\u00a0 and institutions are henceforth to
\ntravel on economy class for both local and international travels.
\nSimilarly, all non-executive chairmen and members of federal government
\nboards of parastatals are henceforth to travel economy class.\u201d<\/p>\n
The circular makes an exemption for ministers, permanent secretaries,
\npresidential aides, service chiefs and \u201crelevant\u201d heads of armed and
\npara-military services who are still allowed to travel business class.
\nLawal said there should be \u201cimmediate compliance\u201d with the directive
\n\u201cFor avoidance of doubt, it should be noted that government will
\nmonitor the implementation of this directive and any breach will be met
\nwith appropriate sanctions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
This government is committed to prudently managing and stopping waste
\nand leakages in the system, there will be no room for duplication of
\noffices and responsibility; the Buhari led government has shown that, it
\nis its desire that everybody benefits from the goodies that the change
\nmantra will bring to the country and not just a few people. If the truth
\nmust be told, the past not a few civil servants and government officials
\nhave gone away with blue murder in the name of foreign trip allowance,
\notherwise called graft.<\/p>\n
The Buhari led government has been working round the clock to ensure
\nthat the suffering of Nigerians are assuaged and ameliorated, by laying
\na solid foundation for a greater and better tomorrow. The campaign of
\ncalumny against the government of President Buhari has been largely
\npredicated on ethnicity and tribal particularism as well as politics of
\nvendetta, especially by the opposition party that roundly defeated at
\nthe polls after many years of misrule, bad governance and monumental
\nfraud. The other point which cannot be waved aside is the fact that, one
\nof the cardinal policies of this administration is the war against
\ncorruption, and since this government came on board, never like before,
\nit has consistently waged relentless war against graft in the country;
\nand the high and mighty are not spared; now in a surreptitious manner,
\ncorruption is fighting back in a very dirty and desperate manner.<\/p>\n
It is germane to observe and rightly so that, since the present
\nadministration came on board under the leadership and watch of President
\nMuhammadu Buhari, the president and his team has worked relentlessly to
\nbail out the economy from the recession in which it is presently
\nenmeshed, an economic situation which is self-inflicted as a result of
\nbad governance, mismanagement, corruption and apparent lack of
\naccountability of past leaders in the country. They dissipated the
\nscarce financial resources of the country on conspicuous consumption as
\nwell as hedonistic and epicurean lifestyles; and refused to save for the
\nraining day. It is this multifaceted errors of the past that the present
\ngovernment is trying to put right, unfortunately, the present government
\nhas been severally criticized by those who created the economic
\nchallenges in the first place, particularly members of the past
\nadministration, who mercilessly plunder and pillage the resources of the
\ncountry on selfish individual desires, thereby neglecting vast majority
\nof the people. With the body language and mannerism of some members of
\nthe present administration, it is obvious that they are not on the same
\npage with the president in truly salvaging the country from economic
\nruination and quagmire.<\/p>\n
For instance, members of the national assembly, with all their economic
\npreachments and sanctimonious claims, they have rapaciously refused to
\ncut down on their illegal and immoral fat salaries and allowances, yet,
\nthey want Nigerians to make sacrifices, while they feed fat on the sweat
\nand toil of Nigerians. As the government is working hard to resolve the
\nfundamental economic contradictions with the economy, people who have
\nillegitimately enriched themselves by pilfering the national treasury
\nand are presently undergoing trails, are clandestinely sponsoring
\nviolence against the Nigerian state and painting the country black in
\nboth local and international media.<\/p>\n
This is contrary to some spurious and erroneous claims in some quarters
\nthat this government is idle and doing nothing about the socio-economic
\nmiasma in which the country is presently enmeshed, unfortunately this
\nunfounded and baseless claim is gaining currency because of the hardship
\nNigerians are presently going through. Those who created these problems
\nare now behaving like the much needed messiah to rescue the country from
\nthis crisis, but what did they do for the country and they people in the
\nlast 16 years? The gang-up and conspiracy against the Buhari led
\ngovernment is because of the anti-corruption crusade of the present
\nadministration, hence, their inability to make cheap money and fleece
\nthe country of funds needed for development. Undoubtedly, this
\ngovernment is working hard and even world leaders know this fact, hence
\nthe need for all Nigerians to rally round the government and move the
\ncountry forward; and stop the issue of violence, blackmail, vendetta,
\ncorruption and anything that can inhibit growth and development in the
\npolity.<\/p>\n
Therefore, the present administration in the country should be commended
\nand not vilified by the people, all that the government needs at the
\nthis time is the cooperation, support, solidarity, patience and
\nunderstanding on the part of the people and anybody or group of people
\nthat wants to constitute themselves into a cog in the wheel of progress
\nshould be viewed as economic saboteur and should be dealt with, in
\naccordance with the provisions of the law, after all, Nigeria is greater
\nthan anybody or group of people, and we should all join hands together
\nand make it great.<\/p>\n
BY JIDE AYOBOLU Right from the onset, it is imperative to underscore the fact that the Nigeria economy is not very strong. The present administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":69050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n