The task before the incoming administration of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, is how to unite the country and ensure devolution of power, former Ondo State governor, Olusegun Mimiko, has said.
According to him, Tinubu must carry through ongoing economic reforms of the present administration such as the cashless policy and the removal of fuel subsidy.
Mimiko spoke on the topic: “Good governance and accountability: Setting the agenda for Nigeria’s incoming administration,” at the second Change and Development Forum of the Dare Adeboye Foundation.
The foundation was instituted in the memory of Dare Adeboye, son of Pastor Enoch Adeboye, general overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, who died recently.
According to Mimiko, unlike the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, the incoming government must ensure inclusiveness in appointments to various positions.
‘For me, the greatest accountability challenge before the incoming administration is uniting this country. The process must start by being fair to its composite ethnic nationalities as practicable as possible.
“Specifically, the incoming administration must avoid the 97 per cent vs five per cent conundrum of the outgoing Buhari administration. Deliberate efforts must be made to make the public space more inclusive, such that those who feel genuinely alienated can be brought back in, into the mainstream of our governance processes, without in any way compromising quality.”
He said the job of the next administration has been made easier on some knotty national issues, in which national consensus has been built. He listed such issues as state police, devolution of power, subsidy removal among others.
According to him, nearly all the political parties that contested the last general election agreed on all the issues in their manifestoes.
“There has been a lot of discussion recently on the issue of government of national unity, government of national competence. Where ever part of the divide you belong, my contention is that the nation needs concrete action on critical areas of our polity.
“Hitherto, seemingly controversial areas for which consensus seems to have emerged, going by the manifesto of the main parties, should be ramped up for action immediately. The most important of these issues are state policing, devolution of resources, removal of subsidy on petroleum products, cashless economy, and catalysation of jobs economy-wide,” he said.
The former governor said decentralising the police has become a major issue in view of the prevailing security challenges in the country.
“Security, rightly so, was identified as a primary focus of engagement by any incoming administration. All also agreed that decentralised policing system would be the way to go. So, what will we be waiting for on this?
“The incoming administration must immediately put in motion the instrument to actualise sub-national policing; on which operational modalities tonnes of ideas have been generated, no less by the 2014 national conference, and the All Progressives Congress (APC) true federalism reports,” he said.
On devolution of power, Mimiko said, again, there was a near consensus by the political parties on the need to devolve more resources to the sub-nationals.
“This is the way to go. I recognise this may still fall short of advocacy for resource control in some quarters, but it doubtlessly, is a step in the right direction. Let the incoming administration put in motion the necessary legal instrument for its actualisation, and, thereby, strengthen the capacity of the federating units to act as locus of social development indeed.
“It is noteworthy and, indeed, quite commendable, that President Buhari decided to sign into law some of the constitutional amendments on which action should have been taken a long time ago.
“Perhaps, the most important of these is the placement of both power generation and rail development on the concurrent list, from the exclusive list where they had been since 1999. “The momentum in this regard should be sustained by the incoming government, to devolve as much powers as practicable to the federating units.
“It is advisable in this regard that a small committee be put in place immediately to distil all elements that are readily implementable in the 2014 confab report, and that of the APC true federalism committee, for implementation,” he said.
He emphasised on the urgent need to stop the wastage associated with the subsidy regime.
According to him, this has become more urgent in view of the disclosure by the World Bank that 96 per cent of country’s revenue was deployed to service debt in 2022, while subsidy has gulped N3.6 trillion this year.
“It is beyond common sense for subsidy of petroleum resources to remain. The good news is that there is consensus on this among the frontline presidential candidates, including that of the Labour Party.
“Another central issue consequent on this will be the cushioning of the effects of subsidy removal on the people, especially those on the lowest rung of the ladder.
“Delivering an effective cushioning programme that is effective, equitable and impactful will be the challenge of the next administration. Be it conditional cash transfer, education, health, transportation, general social services subsidy – either universal or targeted, etc. – must be transparent, leveraging on common sense and cutting-edge technology.
“Only on this, should the World Bank ‘exit’ loan of $800 million be expended. There are issues around sequencing, vis a vis petrol subsidy, that have to be sorted out. For example, the labour movement, Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, and many others insist on local refining before subsidy removal.
“Some are opposed to palliatives because they believe it will be looted by government officials anyway and, therefore, ineffective.
“So, the challenge is how quickly the incoming administration can address these issues and engender the confidence that will ensure the buy-in of all stakeholders,” he said.
He spoke on the cashless economy, even as he challenged the Tinubu government to ensure its continuity “in a more organised, sensitive and effective way.
“The apparent administrative incompetence, flip flop, and little or no sensitivity to the needs of the people that greeted the exercise up till now should not serve as a disincentive to the journey to its eventual actualisation, as the benefits for the country’s economy are too compelling to be disregarded.
“This, for one, will be one of the most effective tools in the fight against systemic corruption.
“Leveraging on our deep mobile penetration, deepening digital identity and payments systems will be an effective tool in government-to-citizen and citizen-to-citizen interaction.
“It will also serve as a tool of bringing some formality to the informal sector, with deep implications for efficient government services, taxation and general fiscal capacity.
“In this regard, a lot can be learnt from experience in some emerging economies like India. The tech savvy part of the diaspora can also be mobilised for this purpose. The bottom line is; we have a responsibility to catalyse what I choose to characterise as a ‘reverse japa phenomenon’.”
He also called for policy implementation that will ensure the creation of jobs for the unemployed youths, currently put at 40 per cent.