The Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC, has applauded President Bola Tinubu for adopting the Oronsanye Committee Report recently approved by the Federal Executive Council, FEC, as a way of curbing high cost of governance through the restructuring and rationalisation of federal agencies, parastatals and commissions.
RMAFC’s chairman, Mohammed Shehu, in a statement, weekend, said the problem of 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.
He added that no society can make meaningful progress unless it develops a competent and cost-effective management system capable of maximizing the nation’s resources to the benefit of all.
He recalled that RMAFC has over the years not only advocated a reduction in cost of governance as a way of preserving scarce resources for the sustainable development of the country but also proffered far-reaching suggestions and recommendations to government at all levels on the need to scale down on unnecessary expenditure and to monitor expenses on developmental projects that would impact positively on the lives of the citizenry.
According to Shehu, 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.
He said: “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.”
