Curious rites of exit

Curtains will fall on the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and some 20 state governors in about a  week from now, and all manners of exit rites have been on parade. Some of the rites can be rationalised and fall within the mould of government being a continuum. But others are downright grotesque or curious, to say the least. It’s like the local wisecrack that on the day an elephant dies, you get to see all shades of blades brandished to carve up the huge carcass.

At the central level, there’s the proposed $800million loan from the World Bank that the Buhari presidency recently sought leave of the National Assembly to apply for. According to the presidency, the loan is meant for social investment programme aimed at succouring  the poorest of the poor when petroleum subsidy gets removed. But the subsidy will be in place until after the Buhari administration leaves office, and you would wonder why it should fall on the administration to determine how to disburse intended remediation fund regarding a policy that will kick in outside of its tenure. Besides, the criteria for applying the borrowed funds aren’t in consensus, because ascertaining deserving beneficiaries is best done when the practical impact of the subsidy removal policy is encountered; meaning the incoming administration may be better placed to articulate interventions to cushion the aftereffects. 

And neither is the wisdom of Nigeria incurring the indebtedness generally agreed upon – not when the outgoing administration’s own appointees lately said the country was bursting reasonable limits in her debt portfolio. Meanwhile, the Senate only recently approved the president’s request to restructure the N22.7trillion loans that the Central Bank of Nigeria advanced the federal government under its ‘ways and means’ policy that allows government to borrow from the apex bank when it needs short-term or emergency funding amidst delay in expected cash receipts or fiscal deficits. The Buhari administration said it relied heavily on ‘ways and means’ funding when the country started experiencing  significant shortfall in revenue, edging the indebtedness to N22.7trillion as of mid-December 2022.

Another rite of exit the central government has had to explain is the award of multi-billion naira contracts barely two weeks to handover. After the Federal Executive Council meeting last week, Transportation Minister Mu’azu Sambo said government would continue to function optimally up till 28th May. Responding to a question on why contracts were being awarded at the instance of outgoing ministers who wouldn’t be in office to execute those contracts owing to tenure expiration on 29th May, Sambo told journalists that the government was elected to function from 2019 to 29th May, 2023. “Should we now stop functioning one month before the next administration because we are coming to the end of our tenure? This government must work. We expect the next government to also work until the very last day of their tenure,” the minister said. His Water Resources counterpart, Sulaiman Adamu, further explained that contract award by government is a long and technical process that typically spills across administration tenures. “We do not control the process, but when it is completed and we are still in office, we are duty-bound to bring these memos to Council for approval. Government is a continuum. There are still a lot of memos pending, “ he said inter alia, adding: “Some of the very first memos we brought to Council in 2015, for me, I had no idea when they started, but I had to be briefed on them. So, government is a continuum and it should be seen as such.” 

“It will be interesting to see how accountability rites play out when the rites of exit conclude.” 

You really can’t fault the argument that government is a continuum and  business must carry on until the last day of a particular administration’s tenure. But there are some moves, especially at the state level, that do not fit with the notion of government just being a continuum. In Ebonyi State, Governor David Umahi swore in four new commissioners into his cabinet 18 days to the expiration of his second and final term of office as governor. Like everyone else whose tenure falls within the general election cycle, the governor leaves office on 29th May and will be taking a seat in the 10th National Assembly as senator representing Ebonyi South district. But he, penultimate Tuesday, administered oath of office as commissioners on four cabinet newcomers who until their new appointment were his aides: three as senior special assistants and the fourth a special assistant. During the oath-taking at Government House in Abakaliki, Umahi charged the new commissioners to use the brief opportunity they have to leave a legacy of service to the state and humanity. You could say the brevity of time available to them was further underscored by the fact that at the same forum, the governor also swore-in members of the 29th May handover committee.

The Ebonyi governor must have his reasons for considering it important to install new commissioners simultaneously with preparing for exiting office, but those reasons aren’t self-evident. It is highly debatable that the new appointees have enough time to settle into office, much less do anything in exercise of the office. Interestingly, reports about the commissioners’ swearing-in didn’t even indicate what specific portfolios they were assigned, who they were replacing and what happened to those being replaced. Chances are the outgoing cabinet was being enlarged and the new appointees given the commissionership as sinecure jobs to enhance their exit package when the government winds out soon. This, apparently, would be in payment for their loyal services hitherto to the governor. Only the governor isn’t paying with his money, Ebonyi people are with their commonwealth.

Government is a continuum and late-term appointments aren’t in themselves objectionable, especially where these are career or tenured appointments that fall due in the closing days of the appointer’s own tenure. In the last week of April, Umahi swore-in six permanent secretaries and seven members of the state’s anti-corruption body. At the oath-taking, he assured the appointees they would not be removed by incoming Governor-elect Francis Nwifuru, even as he vowed not to interfere with the new administration. And he didn’t post the perm secs: “Go back to your respective places of work, your tenure is not ending with me. The only person I am posting now is the permanent secretary, Lagos Liaison; the rest will be done after I have consulted the governor-elect,” he told them. In all those, the governor was on good ground. But the appointment of commissioners two weeks to exit can’t be likewise rationalised.

In Delta State, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa last Tuesday sent a N71billion supplementary appropriation bill to the state assembly for legislative approval. In his letter to the assembly, the governor described the bill projecting N5.6billion for recurrent expenditure and N65.5billion for capital expenditure in 2023 as vital for appropriation to fund ongoing projects, and as well pay for some important government plans and activities. He said there had been actual and projected increases in fiscal receipts and he would appreciate if the bill was given immediate approval. Put bluntly, Okowa was saying the state government already realised and expected more revenue than was earlier on envisaged, and now needed the money through supplementary appropriation to urgently spend. The curious thing is: even if the state was making more money than earlier envisaged, why must it be the lot of the outgoing administration to spend it 13 days to the end of its tenure? But the Delta assembly obliged Okowa’s request for urgent consideration of the supplementary bill and passed it within 24 hours! The bill was read a second time on Wednesday and passed into law by the legislature, just 12 days to the end of Okowa’s tenure. It was one grand ticket to last-minute spending spree by the outgoing administration.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was reported to have indicated to outgoing state governors that it was waiting in the wings to screen their financial records once their tenure, and by extension immunity, expires. The anti-graft body reportedly wrote in to some governors and their commissioners to come submit to investigation. Zamfara State Governor Bello Matawalle, who confirmed receipt of the agency’s letter, objected to what he considered a witch-hunt of governors and tasked the commission to beam its searchlight on federal officials as well. He’s absolutely right there. It will be interesting to see how accountability rites play out when the rites of exit conclude.