Former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timmy Frank, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and all officials in all three arms of government – executive, legislative and judiciary – to “immediately reduce their salaries and allowances”. . “Up to 50 percent if the administration is serious about reducing the cost of governance.”
He also rejected Tinubu's cost-cutting measures, describing them as superficial and mere window dressing.
Frank, in a statement in Abuja, described the austerity measures allegedly aimed at reducing the cost of governance as fake and fraudulent.
According to him, while countries like Rwanda and Tanzania have actually reduced excessive government spending, the reverse is the case in Nigeria, where the President is giving austerity directives on the one hand and engaged in massive spending on the other.
Frank, who is the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) ambassador to East Africa and the Middle East, recalled that Tinubu ordered a 60 per cent reduction in his and his wife's entourage, the Vice President and his wife in January 2024 Was. During foreign travel.
He said that while the President limited his delegation to 20 on such visits, the Vice President, the First Lady and the Vice President's wife were to accompany only five staff.
However, he regretted that the President and the Vice President have not only increased the number of their foreign trips but are also accompanying them with large entourages. Same is the situation for the First Lady and ministers.
“President Tinubu’s recent cost-cutting measures, including limiting ministers to three official vehicles and reducing their security personnel, are superficial compared to concrete reforms,” Frank said.
“While these directives may suggest a commitment to fiscal responsibility, they fail to address the underlying issues of Nigeria’s bloated bureaucracy and excessive governance costs.
“Notwithstanding that his plan to merge agencies in line with the Steve Oronsaye report has been scrapped, he has equally encouraged the National Assembly to approve the establishment of Zonal Development Commissions, the latter of which he West and South East zonal agencies have agreed to the bill.
“Also, the President keeps creating ministries with multiple agencies – the latest being livestock and regional development.
“The President knows well that restricting the vehicles and security details of ministers cannot tackle the systemic corruption that drives government expenditure.
“Furthermore, his administration continues to prioritize huge spending on meaningful reforms such as the purchase of the new presidential jet, the approval of a 300 per cent increase in the salaries of judicial officers, the construction and acquisition of official quarters for judges being planned by the FCT Is. A N5 billion presidential yacht.
Frank equally expressed concern that by creating a home for judicial officers, FCT Minister Nyesom Wike would be asking the Judiciary to decide both ongoing and future cases, including electoral disputes, in favor of himself, President Tinubu and all members of the current Want to compromise through corrupt means. Administration.
“This, among others, reveals a glaring gap between rhetoric and action, particularly the removal of fuel subsidies, which have contributed to high inflation and resulted in crushing economic suffering for average Nigerians Yet he continues to tell Nigerians to endure their economic hardships and wait for a better tomorrow.”
He called on the President to adhere to his policy of traveling with only 20 persons on foreign trips, as well as the five-person limit for the Vice President and First Lady if he is serious about cutting the cost of governing the country. Follow.
Frank also told the President that reducing the fleet of cars in a minister's convoy and reducing the security detail accompanying any convoy has no significant effect on reducing the costs of governance.
The political activist called on Nigerians to prepare for more painful moves by the President, while also urging them to unite and vote for the new government in 2027.
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