From Tunde Omolehin, Sokoto 

A former minister of Finance and former high commissioner to the United Kingdom, Alhaji Abubakar Alhaji, diclosed, yesterday, that Nigeria may not exit recession again.

Abubakar said the current overhead costs and other expenses surrounding the running of Nigeria’s federal system may not allow it get out of recession.

The former minister decried the high cost of running a federal system and further noted that creation of more states by past leaders was done out of selfishness.

Abubakar made this assertion in Sokoto, yesterday, during a private visit to his residence by Chairman, of the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debt, Shehu Sani.

Abubakar discribed as baseless, the argument by some promoters of state creation that it was done to bring government closer to the people.

The former federal permanent secretary also maintained the increase in the creation of state, under the current federal system has tremendously heightened the level of corruption among its uints.

“That is one of their submissions and I considered it as baseless.

“Now, you have 36 states, you also have 36 governors. You have 36 state assemblies and may be you have 36 commissioners in each state.  Then, all the money will be for payment of overheads. Now, all our money are used to settle political office holders,” he said.

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He, however, submitted that the country’s economy can only blossom if there are right people in the system, and added that “there was a time Nigeria lent money to Ireland. I signed the agreement on behalf of the Nigerian government.”

On how to get out of recession, Abubakar noted that unless the federal government learns how to manage its lean resources, no amount of foreign aid or borrowed fund will salvage the economy.

“If you cut your coat according to your size, you will get out of recession. You can not have 36 governors with dozen aides, 36 commissioners and you say you want to get out of recession. You may even die inside recession if care is not taken.

“The more states we have, the more corruption we have. Creating more states won’t solve our ethnicity problem.”

On the inefficiency of some privatised parastatals including NEPA, NITEL and Nigeria Airways, the former minister said that the federal government did not listen to his warnings against privatisation.

“I was part of delegation of the federal government to Canada. We begged them and they gave us six technicians. We came back with these experts and fixed the problem within the important component of NEPA. But, today, where is NEPA? There is no light everywhere.

“I warned the federal government not to privatise NEPA but, my warning fell on deaf ears. Honestly, I fought against privatisation but nobody yielded to my advice.  There reason was that, this is what everybody does. I told them, you are not everybody. I told them if you finally sell NEPA and NITEL, definitely, you will transfer their inefficiency to the private sector, and that is what is happening now.

“Where is the light? It is bills everywhere. In fact, I listed about  six parastatas that I warned the federal government not to privatise.”