By Lasisi Olagunju
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It was beautiful listening to the inaugural speech of President Muhammadu Buhari on May 29, 2015. He would fight corruption and all its manifestations. It was good music hearing him declare in particular that governors would no longer be allowed to steal Local Government funds. Our president said: “Elsewhere, relations between Abuja and the states have to be clarified if we are to serve the country better. Constitutionally, there are limits to powers of each of the three tiers of government but that should not mean the Federal Government should fold its arms and close its eyes to what is going on in the state and local governments, not least the operations of the Local Government Joint Account. While the Federal Government can not interfere in the details of its operations, it will ensure that the gross corruption at the local level is checked. As far as the constitution allows me, I will try to ensure that there is responsible and accountable governance at all levels of government in the country. For I will not have kept my own trust with the Nigerian people if I allow others abuse theirs under my watch.”
That was the beautiful thing the president promised in May. But is it still beautiful that four months after that solemn pledge, this president has not done anything in practical terms to wean the purse of the third tier of government from the light fingers of chief executives of the states? How does he feel that between the governors and local government funds, it is still business as usual?
If the president finds it difficult tracking the previous months’ allocations to the councils from the Federation Account, can he just start now with the latest disbursements for the month of July 2015 shared last month? Although the 36 states got N235.928billion, the almighty governors would still not see anything wrong in cornering the bulk of the N179.675billion that went to the 774 local governments. Or how many of the local governments got the actual amount allocated to them? If I were President Buhari, I would ask questions and demand answers.
If I were Buhari, I would refuse to be slave to governors (whatever their political base and electoral clout) and do the needful on local government funds. I would ask questions on why local governments whose allocations are in excess of N100million could not pay salaries that are less than N40million. If I found out that their governors were the reason for their poverty, I would follow it up by getting the poor councils’ funds deducted from the thieving state government’s accounts and let the law deal with the thieves. Yes, the constitution orders the creation of state/local governments accounts, but does the constitution say the joint account should be used as avenue to bleed the councils to death?
If I were President Buhari, I would carry my reforms further by demanding to know why all governors want their men in all local governments as chairmen. I would even ask why state governors never liked holding local government elections and why the few that have done so ensured they won all all the time.
It was quite exciting listening to the President’s inaugural speech. The president would fight corruption. But I did not hear him call for explanations from the governors on how they amassed commercial loans in billions before making the Debt Management Office to convert the multi billion naira debts to bonds for us, our children and grandchildren to amortize in year 2034. If I were the president I would have asked questions from the men of today before I load their liabilities on the men and women of the future. The president does not belong to anybody but it would appear the almighty governors have won the fight already. They own this president. They appear in clear control of Buhari who has promised to fight corruption. Or how would you explain governors consistently tackling the Federal Government over state funds trapped in federal coffers but see a right in their spending monies that legitimately belong to the tier of government beneath them without a whimper of protest from our president?
Someone said the governors are spending the money because local governments are cesspools of corruption. They say the little that trickle there ultimately end up in private pockets of the little gods running and ruining lives at the grass roots. I should agree that characters like the governors are replicated in the local governments. But didn’t we promise to fight corruption in our inaugural speech on May 29? Why can’t we just let the public property get to the custodian first, then let the law protect the property from becoming part of the private wealth of thieving politicians and those they trust?
And if thieves break into the public till and, as usual, steal the commonwealth, shouldn’t the president as an elder know what to do to catch and shame the thieves? But in case the thieves are smarter than the law, our elders have ways they catch thieves. Sheila Wee of Singapore told this story on ‘How to catch a thief.’ Our president should find it valuable:
One morning, there was a bubbling of commotion from each of the small houses in a village.
“Have you seen my gold bracelet?”
“My grandmother’s ring is gone!”
“My money’s been stolen!”
The angry villagers crowded in the square complaining and lamenting their stolen treasures. Everyone clamoured to see the village chief.
Eventually, the head of the village called for order. He examined each villager in turn and solemnly asked them to line up. He announced: “This village is so isolated that we have had no sign of outsiders for months. Furthermore, all the valuables were stolen from secret places within each house that only an insider who has entered each home and observed the daily lives of our people could know where they were hidden. I regret to conclude that the thief is one of us.”
A wave of surprise flowed through the crowd.
“Chief, how do you plan to root out the thief? I have lost over 90 gold coins!” exclaimed one of the village men.
“Be patient my friend, we will find out in due course.”
The village chief then carried out a roll call to make sure that all the villagers were accounted for.
The chief then brought out a palm-sized statue of an ancient god. Over the head of the statue, he sprinkled soot ( black powder) from an old fire. He showed it to the villagers and instructed: “Each villager is to go inside my home. They are to squeeze this statue with all their might. If they are innocent, the statue will remain silent. If the person is guilty, the statue will scream a deafening cry.”
The people were skeptical about black magic and surprised that the level-headed village chief would suggest such a foolish act, but desperate to have their valuables returned, they agreed.
One by one, the villagers silently entered the house to squeeze the little statue. Everyone outside listened, waiting for an earsplitting shriek, but none came.
When the last person had entered, squeezed the statue and emerged without so much as a peep, the square burst into an angry racket.
The chief was calm and again called for order. He invited all the villagers to stand in a large circle and hold out their hands in front of them.
As he made his way round the circle, he spoke, “The statue was squeezed, but it did not make a sound. This is because statues do not and cannot scream or shriek.
“People who are innocent, have nothing to lose by squeezing an inanimate object. But the guilty are wary and careful. They don’t want to get caught. So the guilty party did not squeeze the statue for fear that it would scream.
But in doing so, he gave himself away for he is the only person in this village circle who has clean hands. And that is you my friend.”
The chief’s friend, the man who had complained about the loss of his 90 gold coins looked down at his clean hands in horror, then up at the wise chief. He had no choice but to confess to being the thief.
The chief in this story caught his friend. President Buhari promised to catch thieves. He must catch the big ones stealing from local governments without minding whether they are of his APP-CPC- APC, ACN or PDP. He should check the palms!
