RMAFC Blames High Cost Of Governance For Slow Economic Growth

The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission has lamented the current high cost of governance.

The Commission noted that the high cost of governance was responsible for the reduction in the provision of infrastructure and social services and the consequent fall in investment, high-level unemployment and rising insecurity in the country.

It also attributed the high cost of governance to several factors, including the expensive presidential system, a bloated bureaucracy with overlapping ministries, and widespread corruption.

The commission in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Nwachukwu Christian in Abuja on Sunday, said the issues are draining public resources and hindering economic development, adding that no society can make meaningful progress unless it develops a competent and cost-effective management system capable of maximising the nation’s resources to the benefit of all.

The statement read, “The problem of the cost of governance is responsible for the reduction in the provision of infrastructure and social services and the consequent fall in investment, high-level unemployment and rising insecurity in the country adding that no society can make meaningful progress unless it develops a competent and cost-effective management system capable of maximising the nation’s resources to the benefit of all.

“The RMAFC Boss also noted that the cost of governance over the years has been very high and alarming and therefore unsustainable as recurrent expenditure continues to significantly exceed capital expenditure thus negatively impacting investment, industrial expansion, infrastructural development and growth of the real sectors of the economy.”

“The high cost of governance in Nigeria was caused by the expensive nature of the presidential system of government, large bureaucracy, duplication of government ministries, departments and agencies and endemic corruption. Other factors were the high cost of public service delivery due to infrastructure failure, high-security costs as a result of insurgencies, kidnappings, ethnoreligious agitations and armed robbery, multiple salaries and severance allowances; extravagant activities and expenditures, high domestic and foreign debts and weak enforcement institutions.”

Nwachukwu made the comments in reaction to the Federal Executive Council’s adoption of the Oronsanye Committee Report as a way of curbing the high cost of governance through the restructuring and rationalisation of Federal agencies, parastatals and commissions.

President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government announced on February 28, 2024, that parts of the recommendations in the 12-year-old Oronsaye report would be implemented.

The 800-page report recommended that 263 of the statutory agencies be slashed to 161; 38 agencies be scrapped; 52 be merged and 14 be reverted to departments in various ministries, among others. In the report, the commission is expected to be subsumed with the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission.

The RMAFC spokesperson who commended the Tinubu administration for embracing the Oronsanye Report as a blueprint for streamlining government agencies, further stated that the report’s full implementation can significantly reduce administrative costs, freeing up funds for vital infrastructure projects that benefit Nigerians directly.

According to him, the imbalance hurts the real sectors of the economy, ultimately impacting the lives of everyday Nigerians.

“The Chairman of the Commission expressed optimism that the wholesale adoption of the Oronsanye report by President Tinubu’s administration was laudable as it was capable of drastically reducing the cost of governance that would conserve funds for infrastructural development which would impact positively on the lives of the citizens.”