Nigeria: The Structure of Government

Daily Independent

3 February 2011

Nigeria: The Structure of Government

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Overall there is something convoluted, even dysfunctional, about the structure of the machinery of government in Nigeria. It is now accepted as conventional wisdom that the cost of the machinery of government is too high. Very recently even the Presidential Advisory Committee came out with recommendations adopting this position. The searchlight on reworking government must now shift from cost to structure. 

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Whichever way one looks at it, it is clear that there must now be a fundamental retooling of the structure of government. And for a reason. For even a perfunctory cost/benefit analysis will reveal emphatically that the country has not received value-for-money through the present structure and concept of government. The amount of 'unearned' income from the sale of crude oil over four decades has not translated into major advances either in living standards or in infrastructure. Why is this? Whatever the reason, the time has come for a holistic examination of the structure, the form and content of the machinery of government in every sphere and at all levels.

At all levels means precisely that. The legislative arm is also structurally flawed. By any performance criteria the country has been short-changed by the legislative arm. As of today the legislative arm at the center is on recess. The ludicrous reason for the recess is in order to monitor the registration of voters. The legislative tenure will now most likely end without the passage of key bills such as the Freedom of Information Act, the Petroleum Industry Bill and so forth. Even more alarming is that for 12 years the federal legislature has been running a largely American model without that vital American invented ingredient - a Congressional Budget Office. The consequence of this in terms of a distorted budget process is too painful to be recounted here.

Those who analysing it all on the basis of value-for-money and who are now calling for a apart-time legislature cannot any longer be laughed out of court. It is obvious that the structure of the machinery of government in Nigeria is inadequate and has not delivered the goods. We must begin the process of retooling it for greater effectiveness straightaway.