PREMIUM TIMES strongly urges an immediate change of the status quo towards a prudent and responsible form of governance, and greater public accountability.
EditorialIPAC: A failed experiment or mere contraption?, By Adamu RabiuClimate change, extreme weather, conflict exacerbate global food crisisIPAC: A failed experiment or mere contraption?, By Adamu RabiuThe process leading to the inauguration of a tripartite committee to fix a new minimum wage, has further exposed the dark side of the government in the use of resources.
The street protest in Kano, penultimate week, over endless increases in the cost of living is spreading like wildfire; and places like Minna, Lagos, Osun, Benin, Ondo, Port Harcourt and Sokoto have caught the contagion. More cities are likely to be rocked by it with the National Bureau of Statistics’ latest report that food inflation in January peaked at 35.41 per cent. The headline inflation rate was 29.90 per cent.
It did not matter to the president and the lawmakers that N12.5 billion was allocated to the presidential fleet in a country undergoing fiscal haemorrhage. Operational vehicles in the presidential villa were to be replaced with N2.9 billion and another N2.9 billion was for the procurement of more Sports Utility Vehicles . The First Lady’s office – which does not constitutionally exist – got N1.5 billion for vehicles. The legislators have splurged N57.
The president cannot reinvent the wheel in tackling the ills bedevilling the country. Nations face existential challenges which are solved through pragmatic policies and prudence in resource deployment. Confronted by economic crisis, a former President of Malawi, Joyce Banda, in 2013, sold the only presidential jet and a fleet of 60 Mercedes Limousines she inherited from her predecessor, Bingu wa Mutharika. She explained that she had no problem “offloading it as I can well use private airlines.