THE NATION WEDNESDAY, OCTOMBER 12, 2011
19
EDITORIAL/OPINION EDITORIAL FROM OTHER LAND
COMMENT
No contest
Needless ID card project • We are still behaving as if money is not our problem, but how to spend it
W
E consider as incredible this administration’s recourse to the old path of another grandiose national identity card project, for which the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the sum of N30.066 billion for its execution. Surprisingly, no reason was officially adduced for jettisoning the one in existence. Mr. Labaran Maku, Minister of Information, after the FEC meeting repeated the old cliché that the Unified Identity Management System, UIMS ‘…..will capture all Nigerians from the ages of 18 and above, and will bring down the cost of data processing and storage by different agencies in the country.’ The project, according to Maku, will be managed by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and ‘ex-
‘The nation can deploy any of its idle earnings to projects that will have direct meaningful impact on Nigerians. Repeating a needless project like the ID card initiative is not one of them. As we have argued, harmonisation of biometric data from the above-mentioned agencies of government would improve national security management; definitely not necessarily a fresh approval for this project’
ecuted in conjunction with different agencies of government which presently keep their own separate identity data’. However, the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) has questioned the official haste to spend over N30 billion on the UIMS project. Moreover, it was reported that upon scrutiny of the Federal Government Tenders Journal, the project was not advertised in accordance with the Public Procurement Act. This project looks more like another white elephant project - one of the many of its type embarked upon by successive administrations just to squander the nation’s common wealth. We acknowledge that UIMS is a laudable initiative, but the last one approved by FEC was unnecessary. We are aware that agencies of government such as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) have biometric data base of millions of Nigerians. INEC, before the last April general elections conducted a N40 billion biometric registration of Nigerians not below the voting age of 18. Under the newly introduced Driver’s Licence Scheme, the FRSC reportedly has procured biometric machines that are being used for the exercise. Also, the NCC has just concluded a comprehensive biometric registration of all phone users in the country. We ask: why the need for this FEC approval for another ID card exercise when NIMC could have collected the data from
these agencies and get them harmonised in a central data bank to be managed and updated by it regularly. In the last 30 years or so, Nigeria has been struggling to establish a national ID card system. However, the bold move made in 2003 was a cesspool of scandal and sleaze. That $214m ID card contract handled by SAGEM, a French firm, led to the arraignment for corruption of former internal affairs ministers Sunday Afolabi (late) and Dr Mohammed Shata, former minister of state in that ministry, former labour minister, Hussein Akwanga; former Enugu State governor, Chief Okwesilieze Nwodo and Mohammed Shatta. The charges against them were later dropped while the project was not satisfactorily executed as most of the valid 42 million out of the 58 million registered Nigerians could not get their cards. With this needless one about to commence, the government must be bold to tell Nigerians what happened to the N38 billion machine supplied by SAGEM to the Directorate of National Civic Registration (DNCR) for the same exercise in 2003. The nation can deploy any of its idle earnings to projects that will have direct meaningful impact on Nigerians. Repeating a needless project like the ID card initiative is not one of them. As we have argued, harmonisation of biometric data from the above- mentioned agencies of government would improve national security management; definitely not necessarily a fresh approval for this project.
Yuguda’s 1,047 aides • As in his first term, Bauchi State governor has appointed a battalion of aides
D
URING his first term in office as Governor of Bauchi State, Isa Yuguda had an indeterminate number of appointees. By the time that term ended last May, official records showed about 2,000 appointees, but members of the opposition thought Governor Yuguda had in excess of 3,000 aides on his payroll. On the occasion of the governor’s valedictory party for them late last May, just before his inauguration for the second term, Yuguda himself had admitted he had a few aides too many and that he would do something about it this time. He had openly blamed those he termed sycophants for his inability to deliver on his promises to the people. Well, here we go again. Governor Yuguda seems to have forgotten his resolve so soon, only four months down the line. Last week, Secretary to the Government of Bauchi State, Ahmed Dandija threw the bombshell when he released the list of Yuguda’s fresh appointees. Among them are 20 special advisers, 94 senior special advisers, 810 special assistants, 24 directors-general and a motley crowd of other positions with not clearly defined portfolios. The list runs clearly into over a thousand. Particularly remarkable in this rash of appointments is that Yuguda has created a spectacular aberration by designating some of these aides as directors-general which negates the civil service procedure. This has currently kept the state’s House of Assembly and the civil servants distracted, wondering what to do. This size of appointees is unwieldy,
wasteful and shows a stark lack of purpose and imagination in the running of the affairs of a state. Even the President who oversees the entire country is not known to have up to 100 appointees. Therefore, for a governor to have named this number in addition to the full complement of heads of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) is confounding and needs to be condemned and discouraged for very obvious reasons. Though the governor has blamed his action on pressure from his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), it is more a reflection of his personal style (or lack of it) as he is not the only governor from that party. There just must be a better explanation of this absurdity to the people of Bauchi State who are the butts of this cruel joke. We are particularly surprised by what is becoming clearly a bizarre Yuguda act because he appears to us as one of the well read, well exposed and enlightened of the governors in Nigeria today, having come from the private sector where he rose to be the managing director of a foremost merchant bank. Surely, Yuguda must have heard about running lean teams for optimal returns. Certainly he must have heard about overlap and duplication of functions; as well as tight budgeting. For instance, the monthly remuneration and perks of this crowd of appointees will run into hundreds of millions of naira. Where will the money come from? What is the internally generated revenue of Bauchi State? For a state still grappling with N18, 000 minimum wage, and is currently troubled by such basic disease as cholera, we expect
some sobriety and good sense in the management of her resources. Yuguda has set a bad precedent that may haunt the state in future and he stands as a bad influence on other governors, as some of those already criticised for having over a hundred aides now point to Bauchi in self-vindication. What would Yuguda’s legacy be after eight years as the governor of Bauchi? This is a place nature has endowed with perhaps the best natural game reserve in the world and is in dire need of an imaginative leader to convert it into a world tourist destination. The Bauchi State House of Assembly must reverse the Yuguda folly immediately. Other state houses of assembly should be alive to their duties and set appointment limits for governors.
‘Yuguda has set a bad precedent that may haunt the state in future and he stands as a bad influence on other governors, as some of those already criticised for having over a hundred aides now point to Bauchi in self-vindication. What would Yuguda’s legacy be after eight years as the governor of Bauchi? This is a place nature has endowed with perhaps the best natural game reserve in the world and is in dire need of an imaginative leader to convert it into a world tourist destination
T
HE Republicans are struggling to find a convincing challenger to Obama “No government”, wrote Disraeli, “can be long secure without a formidable opposition.” The paradox is acute in American politics. President Obama will face an election contest next year. His poll ratings are declining, economic growth is feeble and the country’s credit rating has been downgraded. Yet the Republicans are struggling to find a credible candidate. This is a problem not only for American conservatism: the dysfunctional state of the Republican Party is bad for US governance and indeed for Mr Obama. Incumbency is far from an assurance of electoral success. Of the previous six presidents, all sought election for a second term and three of them lost. Next year’s contest ought to be a good election for the Republicans to fight. Approval ratings for Mr Obama have slipped below 40 per cent, whereas a majority (52 per cent) disapprove of the way that he is doing his job. Yet by announcing this week that he would not be a candidate for the Republican nomination, Chris Christie, the Governor of New Jersey, emphasized the paucity of talent among the declared contenders. Aspirant nominees customarily appeal to the party base before running smartly to the political centre to woo the electorate. Even so, this Republican field of contenders is longer on doctrinaire rhetoric than political weight. The front-runner among declared contenders is Mitt Romney. Mr Romney, formerly Governor of Massachusetts, has media profile, great wealth and a confident manner in debates. Encouragingly, his criticisms of Mr Obama lack the ferocious, irrational hostility that marks out Republican ideologues; and his views do not extend to the dogmatic and unreasoning faith, expressed by the Tea Party faction, in the power of tax cuts to rejuvenate the economy. But Mr Romney also has two signal disadvantages. Lacking personal charisma, he has made little headway in the polls. And he lacks a political story that would enthuse Republicans. Democrats plausibly point to the healthcare insurance reforms that Mr Romney implemented in Massachusetts as a prototype for Mr Obama’s own health reforms. Rick Perry, the Governor of Texas, suffered severe damage in his own campaign for the Republican nomination owing to the discovery that a racial slur was painted on a rock at his family’s hunting camp. Mr Perry, moreover, has form in making inflammatory statements. He has claimed that the monetary policies of Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, are “treasonous”. Herman Cain, formerly chief executive of a pizza chain, has gained at Mr Perry’s expense, but there are many doubts whether he is a viable candidate. Beyond him, the half-dozen declared runners hold views that are frankly irresponsible and also not noticeably different from Mr Perry’s, such as denying the reality of global warming. The principal undeclared but possible candidate is Sarah Palin, the former vice-presidential nominee, whose ignorance of foreign affairs ought to disqualify her from serious consideration. Elections in which one of the two main parties selects a candidate for outside the mainstream – such as Barry Goldwater, for the Republicans, in 1964, and George McGovern, for the Democrats, in 1972 – do not make for good government. Mr Obama needs searching questions and a tough contest. He is not getting them. – The London Times.
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