Drum Beat: Why it is Urgent to Restructure

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Can we be sincere to ourselves? If yes, then let us ask a few frantic questions and genuinely, with open mind, answer them truthfully. Have our leaders been fair to the citizens? Are there signs that they are working to better the lives of the people? Have the government managed our resources reasonably? Would we be better off if we establish processes to curtail excessive access to public funds and entrench accountability?

These are my answers to the questions, firstly, no our leaders have not been fair to the citizens. Secondly, they have done nothing to show they have the people at heart. Thirdly, they have shamelessly mismanaged our resources; and finally, if we introduce financial discipline and accountability in the management of resources, we would be better off.

If you truly believe my answers are wrong, please I would like you to write a rejoinder and provide reasons why you think otherwise. We need to take drastic measures to improve the way Nigerians run the country. We need to introduce effective business-like management structures, prudence and accountability and performance oriented systems.

Let us take Nigeria to a small business enterprise, a joint-venture partnership with several directors of equal stake, but the chairman and board members freely make withdrawals from the company’s account to settle personal expenses and earn remunerations that are bogus and beyond affordable levels. Meanwhile, as they drain the company of its finances, they fail to pay the salaries of the workers on whose dedication the company’s survival depends on.

The future of such a company is predictably bankruptcy, and to revive such an enterprise, new funds injected, and board will undergo major restructuring and processes to ensure non-reoccurrence of the negligence of the past are put in place. This paints a picture of the situation we find ourselves in the country.

To bring us back to the path of recovery, we must restructure the way the country is governed, and it must start by improving the processes of governance. There must be accountability for every money disbursed. That is what we mean by restructuring. A situation where the managers of the economy refuse to accept process improvement is sufficient evidence of foul play, and a deliberate attempt to undermine the wishes of the people.

What is Restructuring?

Restructuring simple means organize differently; rearrange, reform, reshuffle, shakeup and improve a process to strengthen and make it operate more efficiently. Investopedia defined restructuring as a type of corporate action taken when modifying the debt, operations or structure of a company as a means of potentially eliminating financial harm and improving the business.

BusinessDictionary.com also described restructuring as bringing about a drastic or fundamental internal change that alters the relationships between different components or elements of an organization or system. After answering the questions in the first paragraph above, and looking at the definition of restructuring, it connotes positivity and there is nothing consequential or requiring a show of extreme concern by a section of the society.

If we must judge the performance of all the previous administrations based on the humongous amount of money the government have squandered in the last 50 years, it only makes sense that we take urgent measures to improve the structure of government, because this country has produced one of the most indolence of leaders in human history.

The problem of Nigeria is not about the inadequacy of plan, but dearth of will power. The Elites will not support any effort to level the playing field, because selfishly, they assume that it will reduce their access to public funds. There are many issues trying to tear the country apart. In the political sphere, politicians are throwing spanners into the processes, so that they can have their way during elections.

Politicians have been known to stall all effort aimed at introducing a workable electoral process. The electronics voters’ card is a typical example. These political demagogues are preventing even distribution of the cards, ensuring the spread is skewed only to areas that will guaranty their victory; the last presidential election was a typical example.

The present systems condone willful plunging of public funds by government officials without recourse or accountability to the State. Year after year, monies are disbursed to various ministries and agencies to carry embark on capital projects, and each time, such monies have been misappropriated and diverted to private pockets; and the midst of all this, the government keep disbursing additional funds to these agencies, which makes it appears as if the government is condoning corruption.

The budgeting process must undergo restructuring to allow for accountability. Whenever monies are disbursed for a project in a year, and if by the new budget year the projects are abandoned or unimplemented, further release of funds should be stopped. The people must be responsible to the State and they must be accountable to the people, vis-à-vice. 

For many decades, the federal government have managed the proceeds from the mineral resources in such a shoddy and shameful manner. We have tested the present revenue sharing formulae, where the federal have control over our mineral resources for many decades and distribute the revenues accruing from it to the State. Apparently, this structure has failed.

Can we introduce a reform of the current process and make it work? The States have control over land and the shoreline of the boundaries, why then are the minerals on the same land not in the custody. Since the federal government have failed to manage our oil revenue effectively for half a century, why cannot we hand over to the States and let them contribute to the federal purse.

At the same time, we must create a system that will prevent governors from having absolute access and authority to squander funds accruing to them from mineral resources in the different States. Any aspect of the Nigerian society that is found inadequate, must be reformed and new processes put in place to stop the apparent lack of accountability by senior executives in all the three-tier of government.

Restructuring will help sanitize the country and make the people truly believe in the State and begin to work together to develop the nation, and enjoy the fruits resulting from the tranquility and progress. The present system where the elite are living in affluence and the masses find it difficult to have a meal a day, has to change.

#OneNigeria