Citizens want FG reduce cost of governance

Some experts in different fields have called on the Federal Government to cut down on the cost of governance by reducing the number of ministers.

They said in Lagos on Monday that the cost of governance was becoming too high for the nation.

The Medical Director of Bee Hess Hospital, Lagos State, Dr. Olabode Bakare, said that since assuming office, President Bola Tinubu and his aides had been working without ministers, implying that the country did not need many of them.

Bakare called on the government to collapse the position of ministers of state and consider merging some Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to reduce cost of governance.

“We have permanent secretaries and others who can deputise for ministers,” he said.

He urged the senators and House of Representatives members to also reduce the cost of governance by sacrificing some allowances out of compassion for the masses.

A businessman, Mr. Befe Onwuasoanya, said that ministers were important in governance but must be effective and prudent to avoid waste.

He cautioned them against amassing wealth to the detriment of the nation.

The Principal of Festac Senior College, Mr. David Oluwafemi, said that Nigeria did not require a large number of ministers.

According to him, permanent secretaries were capable of running MDAs.

He said that Nigerian ministers were expected to be experienced and knowledgeable.

“If we have permanent secretaries with the experience needed to run the various MDAs, why not cut the cost of governance?” he asked.

He urged that Nigerian ministers must be disciplined, competent, and full of integrity to justify their appointments.

Oluwafemi advised the incoming minister for education to modify school curricula to provide better education.

The Managing Director of SUNU Health, Dr. Patrick Korie, however, said that Nigeria needed an adequate number of ministers to carry out the functions of the executive arm of government.

According to Korie, in the civil service structure, officers, directors, and permanent secretaries have roles different from those of the minister to play.

“Ministers interface directly with the president; they are in the executive arm.

“All these other people are not part of the executive arm,” he said.

Korie urged the incoming health minister to set clear and measurable goals to be achieved in the next four years.

“Something like maternal health is a measurable goal. Life expectancy is a measurable goal,” he said.

He added that the minister should facilitate the enforcement and implementation of laws and policies onhealth, including the National Health Insurance Authority Act of 2022 and the National Health Plan.