Reps to Introduce Social Contract Bill
- By Simeon Ogoegbulem
- Published June 28th, 2011
- News
- Unrated
Honourable Fort Dike, a member of Nigeria’s Federal House of Representatives, has concluded plans to introduce a Social Contract Bill which will seek to reverse the huge and lopsided budgetary allocation in favour of recurrent expenditure as against that provided for capital and social welfare services in the country.
Dike, who represents Ihiala federal constituency, regretted that successive governments at all levels had allocated enormous sums to recurrent expenditure, a situation which has made the cost of running government very high and subsequently jeopardizing the provision of social welfare and infrastructural development for the people.
The law, when operational, would not only make government more accountable to the people but also drastically reduce the cost of governance across the three tiers of government. In the 2011 budget for example, a total of N2.425 trillion, representing over 70 per cent of the budget was allocated to recurrent expenditure leaving a paltry N1.147trillion for capital projects. This, he said, was unacceptable.
Dike noted that for a country with huge infrastructural deficit, high unemployment and low per capital income, reducing wastages in governance in not only imperative but also a sacrifice that must be made by the ruling elites if the country is to make any progress.
According to him, while conceding that the public enjoys the right to develop interest in the emoluments of members of the National Assembly, he called for a greater scrutiny and interest in the affairs of the executive arm at all levels as higher percentage of public funds is being expended by this arm of government.
“Despite the monumental resources from oil, taxes and other revenue burden imposed on the people, Nigerians have nothing to show for it in terms of infrastructural development,” he said. “Rather, a larger chunk of the money is filtered away in the cost of running government. This is not acceptable.”
The social contract law, he explained, would ensure that a greater number of Nigerians rather than a few benefit from the resources available to them. The lawmaker noted that it is only when the resources of the country benefit a greater number of the populace that development indices would record significant improvement.
This, he further explained, would conform with the World Bank’s insistence that for any developing country like Nigeria to transit from poverty to economic strength, it must rapidly build up its infrastructure to facilitate and expand production, create jobs and consumer demands, attract foreign direct investment and move from import dependency to export –oriented economy.
He described Nigeria’s current economic position as dismal and canvassed for a concrete and decisive action by both the executive and legislative arms of government to reverse the trend as reflected in the high level of poverty in the country. He submitted that sacrifices must be made by all to ensure that Nigeria gets out of its current development quagmire.
Dike therefore sought for the plugging of all areas of wastages in government including the civil service, as according to him, resources so saved would be deployed to building infrastructural facilities. Such wastages, he explained, include the high cost of running the civil service and bloated security votes by the chief executives at all tiers of government which run into billions of naira annually.
He called on government to create the enabling environment that will stimulate alternative employment for people who may decide to migrate out of civil service. Dike also expressed strong optimism that the proposed bill would tackle the issue of corruption with a view to saving money for critical developmental needs of the country.
Dike, who represents Ihiala federal constituency, regretted that successive governments at all levels had allocated enormous sums to recurrent expenditure, a situation which has made the cost of running government very high and subsequently jeopardizing the provision of social welfare and infrastructural development for the people.
The law, when operational, would not only make government more accountable to the people but also drastically reduce the cost of governance across the three tiers of government. In the 2011 budget for example, a total of N2.425 trillion, representing over 70 per cent of the budget was allocated to recurrent expenditure leaving a paltry N1.147trillion for capital projects. This, he said, was unacceptable.
Dike noted that for a country with huge infrastructural deficit, high unemployment and low per capital income, reducing wastages in governance in not only imperative but also a sacrifice that must be made by the ruling elites if the country is to make any progress.
According to him, while conceding that the public enjoys the right to develop interest in the emoluments of members of the National Assembly, he called for a greater scrutiny and interest in the affairs of the executive arm at all levels as higher percentage of public funds is being expended by this arm of government.
“Despite the monumental resources from oil, taxes and other revenue burden imposed on the people, Nigerians have nothing to show for it in terms of infrastructural development,” he said. “Rather, a larger chunk of the money is filtered away in the cost of running government. This is not acceptable.”
The social contract law, he explained, would ensure that a greater number of Nigerians rather than a few benefit from the resources available to them. The lawmaker noted that it is only when the resources of the country benefit a greater number of the populace that development indices would record significant improvement.
This, he further explained, would conform with the World Bank’s insistence that for any developing country like Nigeria to transit from poverty to economic strength, it must rapidly build up its infrastructure to facilitate and expand production, create jobs and consumer demands, attract foreign direct investment and move from import dependency to export –oriented economy.
He described Nigeria’s current economic position as dismal and canvassed for a concrete and decisive action by both the executive and legislative arms of government to reverse the trend as reflected in the high level of poverty in the country. He submitted that sacrifices must be made by all to ensure that Nigeria gets out of its current development quagmire.
Dike therefore sought for the plugging of all areas of wastages in government including the civil service, as according to him, resources so saved would be deployed to building infrastructural facilities. Such wastages, he explained, include the high cost of running the civil service and bloated security votes by the chief executives at all tiers of government which run into billions of naira annually.
He called on government to create the enabling environment that will stimulate alternative employment for people who may decide to migrate out of civil service. Dike also expressed strong optimism that the proposed bill would tackle the issue of corruption with a view to saving money for critical developmental needs of the country.
