Why Mismanage Public Funds?

A Nigerian politician once confessed that the corrupt practices which political office-holders are being accused of were taught them by civil servants. From the inflation of contracts, rents and other financial transactions, to the padding of national budgets, political office-holders usually depend on experienced civil servants for advice and guidance. Accounts sections of various ministries, departments and agencies are usually the starting points of official malfeasance.
Page 3 of The Tide newspaper of Friday, July 23, 2021, had this news headline: ‘Senate Queries Loss of N54Bn On External Loans’. The Senate called for the sanctioning of officials in the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, who made Nigeria lose $274.2 million (N54.1 billion) on external loans. Obviously the Senate would not have issued such query without substantial evidence of malfeasance, after some detailed fact-finding interim investigations.
The Upper Chamber cannot be faulted for approving the report of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, which did the interim fact-finding investigation on the matter. Therefore, it follows that asking the AGF, Ahmed Idris, to identify and sanction officers responsible for mismanaging public funds, is right and proper. There was a mention of Rule 3115 of the Financial Regulations which deals with gross misconducts. Surely, the public service system is governed by Financial Regulations which must apply where needful.
Text of Rule 3115 of the Financial Regulations reads: “An accounting officer who is queried for his failure to manage or spend public funds effectively or who spends money without due regard to economy, contrary to Financial Regulation 415 and fails to reply to the query, shall be removed from the schedule and be disciplined in accordance with the Public Service Rules”.
It was observed that there was a total exchange loss difference of $278.2 million (N54.1 billion) reported by the office of the AGF, with documents provided. But such vital documents could not be found in the Debt Management Office. With the proverbial buck ending in the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, the jinxed task is to “provide the sources of the exchange loss difference of $274.2 million (N54.1 billion) with documentary evidence”.
What will embitter the Nigerian public more is the continuing borrowing, thus piling up of huge debt burden on the nation and its people. Also annoying to the articulate class of Nigerians is the impression spreading abroad with regards to integrity deficit in the country. It would be shameful and untrue to say that there are no people of outstanding integrity and sterling qualities in Nigeria. Rather, it is our fault that honest and serious efforts are not made to locate such Nigerians and use them to clear the mess that we find ourselves in. One theory standing out in this regard is that those who ruined the economy and reputation of this country would be bitter and fear being put to shame by any group that would turn things around.
The experiences of 1966 give glaring evidence that there are obvious and powerful forces of retrogression holding this nation to ransom, and ready to do anything to hold the country down. Fair can be foul and foul fair in their perception of justice and equity. Late Osama bin Ladin made allusion to “Anhaki, the wizard from the desert” who, like a soulless zombie, can hardly be rooted out, even when dead. Perhaps, that is why bandits can hardly be rooted out, even with A-29 Super Tucano aircraft arriving Nigeria.
According to The Tide editorial comment of same Friday, July 23, 2021, “The Latest DMO statistics, covering the first quarter of 2021, indicated that the debt portfolio had increased again to N33.10 trillion”. This is in addition to “another N10 trillion in overdraft with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)”. Very pertinent is The Tide newspaper’s comment: “We wonder what the managers of the economy have up their sleeves when they take on these liabilities which have serious implications not only for the present, but also for the future generations of Nigerians”.
Let it not be said that “when Rome was burning” no patriotic citizens raised alarm. What we find is the engagement of fiddlers to provide soothing sound of music and spin-doctors to do damage-control consultancy services. There had been the hiring of marabouts from Sudan and Saudi Arabia, to exorcise bandits and Boko Haram insurgents from Nigerian soil. Apart from fraudulent padding of accounts and contract values, do we not have cases of lavish spending in the midst of hunger?
A major disservice which any nation can do to itself and to posterity is leave a legacy that would drain the economy in years to come. While political leaders live in obscene opulence in the midst of widespread poverty and hunger, it is inexcusable that managers of the affairs of the nation should be asking for more foreign loans. It is saddening why managers of the nation’s affairs cannot see the need to make some patriotic sacrifices by cutting down their comfort and perks.
How do we explain a situation where public servants, particularly those in accounts units and security agencies, own several houses in Nigeria and foreign countries? Should we blame those who help themselves from public funds (where they find loopholes to do so) when those who should lead the masses by good examples, merely pontificate and prevaricate? Nigerians have come to know the hypocrisies, shenanigans and unreliable nature of the leadership class. It is quite sad to see the zeal with which security operatives pounce upon those who have the courage to point out official malfeasance.
Public funds will continue to be mismanaged, pinched, spent lavishly and unmercifully until the nation’s political economy is restructured. The structuralist philosophy stipulates that a Just and Firm structure would hardly admit or accommodate fraudulent manipulators of monetary affairs. Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo was a high priest of that philosophical school. During the Nigerian Civil War he managed the nation’s funds without going aborrowing, neither did he spare accounts fixers! Good name; good legacy!

By: Bright Amirize
Dr Amirize is a retired lecturer from the Rivers State University, Port Harcourt.