The Constitution And Cost Of Governance

The nuisance of Big Government will not go away very soon be­cause the causes are embedded in the 1999 Nige­rian Constitution, with the equal opportunity charter placed smack within the First Chapter of the Constitution.

Section 14(3) provides: “The composition of the Government of the Feder­ation… and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria… thereby ensur­ing that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few states or… ethnic or other sectional groups in that government or in any of its agencies.”

Section 147(3) that puts a shot in the arm of the Pres­ident states that “Any ap­pointment (to the office of Minister) by the President shall be in conformity with the provisions of Section 14(3)… provided that… the President shall appoint at least one minister from each state, who shall be an indi­gene of such state.”

To the dismay and chagrin of those who do not approve of Big Government, this pro­vision did not provide a cap to the number of ministers that the President can ap­point from any of the states, including the Federal Capi­tal Territory.

And, to ensure that no one loses sight of the constitu­tional provision for federal character, Paragraph 7 of Part I of the Third Schedule of the Constitution provides for a Federal Character Commission with a board comprising one Chairman and one person representing each state of the Federation and the Federal Capital Ter­ritory.

Paragraph 8 (1,b,c) pro­vides that “In giving effect to the provision of Section 14(3) and (4) of the Con­stitution, the Commission shall have the power to – (b) promote, monitor and en­force compliance with the principles of proportional sharing of all bureaucratic, economic, media and po­litical posts at all levels of government; (c) take such legal measures, including the prosecution of the head or staff of any Ministry or government body or agency which fails to comply with any federal character prin­ciple or formula prescribed or adopted by the Commis­sion.”

If the Federal Charac­ter Commission has been empowered to enforce the provisions of equal opportu­nities, as enshrined in bold relief in the Constitution, there is no way to avoid a Big Federal Government in a country with 36 states, a Federal Capital Territory, 774 local governments and more than two hundred linguistic and cultural ten­dencies.

We can only imagine the personnel and financial resources that must be in­vested in the Federal Char­acter Commission itself as it applies itself to the job of monitoring and enforc­ing the equal opportunity requirements on the minis­tries, departments and agen­cies of the Federal Govern­ment!

The financial implica­tion of these constitutional provisions is in the high personnel emoluments bill of the unwieldy number of government employees. In the 2025 Budget Proposal that President Tinubu pre­sented to the National As­sembly, a total of N8.52 tril­lion will be spent on staff salaries and pension.

While as much as N8.52 trillion will be spent on per­sonnel emoluments of gov­ernment workers, a relative­ly meagre N3.18 trillion will be spent on capital projects that should last for a longer time and yield future in­comes.

Media reports indicate that by November 2023, a total of N3.87 trillion was to be expended on workers’ salaries and pensions in the budgets of just 13, or one-third, of the states of Nige­ria, although they admitted­ly planned to spend a higher sum of N5.845 trillion on capital projects.

The Federal Government’s proposal to spend N8.52 trillion on personnel emol­uments in 2025 may have contributed to the N13.39 trillion budget deficit. The N16.33 trillion earmarked for debt servicing in the budget is an early warning sign that government must go easy on taking loans.

Therefore, there is urgent need to remove from the 1999 Nigerian Constitution the provisions that trap gi­normous financial resources on Big Governments across the federation, leaving only a pittance for development. The nuisance of Big Government will not go away very soon be­cause the causes are embedded in the 1999 Nige­rian Constitution, with the equal opportunity charter placed smack within the First Chapter of the Constitution.

Section 14(3) provides: “The composition of the Government of the Feder­ation… and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria… thereby ensur­ing that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few states or… ethnic or other sectional groups in that government or in any of its agencies.”

Section 147(3) that puts a shot in the arm of the Pres­ident states that “Any ap­pointment (to the office of Minister) by the President shall be in conformity with the provisions of Section 14(3)… provided that… the President shall appoint at least one minister from each state, who shall be an indi­gene of such state.”

To the dismay and chagrin of those who do not approve of Big Government, this pro­vision did not provide a cap to the number of ministers that the President can ap­point from any of the states, including the Federal Capi­tal Territory.

And, to ensure that no one loses sight of the constitu­tional provision for federal character, Paragraph 7 of Part I of the Third Schedule of the Constitution provides for a Federal Character Commission with a board comprising one Chairman and one person representing each state of the Federation and the Federal Capital Ter­ritory.

Paragraph 8 (1,b,c) pro­vides that “In giving effect to the provision of Section 14(3) and (4) of the Con­stitution, the Commission shall have the power to – (b) promote, monitor and en­force compliance with the principles of proportional sharing of all bureaucratic, economic, media and po­litical posts at all levels of government; (c) take such legal measures, including the prosecution of the head or staff of any Ministry or government body or agency which fails to comply with any federal character prin­ciple or formula prescribed or adopted by the Commis­sion.”

If the Federal Charac­ter Commission has been empowered to enforce the provisions of equal opportu­nities, as enshrined in bold relief in the Constitution, there is no way to avoid a Big Federal Government in a country with 36 states, a Federal Capital Territory, 774 local governments and more than two hundred linguistic and cultural ten­dencies.

We can only imagine the personnel and financial resources that must be in­vested in the Federal Char­acter Commission itself as it applies itself to the job of monitoring and enforc­ing the equal opportunity requirements on the minis­tries, departments and agen­cies of the Federal Govern­ment!

The financial implica­tion of these constitutional provisions is in the high personnel emoluments bill of the unwieldy number of government employees. In the 2025 Budget Proposal that President Tinubu pre­sented to the National As­sembly, a total of N8.52 tril­lion will be spent on staff salaries and pension.

While as much as N8.52 trillion will be spent on per­sonnel emoluments of gov­ernment workers, a relative­ly meagre N3.18 trillion will be spent on capital projects that should last for a longer time and yield future in­comes.

Media reports indicate that by November 2023, a total of N3.87 trillion was to be expended on workers’ salaries and pensions in the budgets of just 13, or one-third, of the states of Nige­ria, although they admitted­ly planned to spend a higher sum of N5.845 trillion on capital projects.

The Federal Government’s proposal to spend N8.52 trillion on personnel emol­uments in 2025 may have contributed to the N13.39 trillion budget deficit. The N16.33 trillion earmarked for debt servicing in the budget is an early warning sign that government must go easy on taking loans.

Therefore, there is urgent need to remove from the 1999 Nigerian Constitution the provisions that trap gi­normous financial resources on Big Governments across the federation, leaving only a pittance for development.