By Innocent Okon
It’s trite for one to observe that this is not the best season for political gladiators in Nigerian clime.
Whichever end of the stick they are holding, long or short, common denominators are predictable: sweat, tears and trepidation!
For first time elective office seekers, they need a war chest and propaganda crack team to add to the support of political godfathers within the party hierarchy.
For those seeking re-election, affliction has risen a second or third time! It’s no more the size of the war chest available for the project, but the performance scorecard.
And the performance doesn’t only stop at constituency projects executed, employment facilitated, but includes even accessibility on phone!
Every election year is like Daniel coming to judgment. Whether the election will be free or flawed, it must extort energy, money, vigour and rigour l.
In climes like the United States, election year is a carnival of sorts. The ground rules are already established, and what the electorates are using to make their choices are taxes, job creation, security and cost of living.
But in Nigeria, religion, region, party affiliation and loyalty, as well as pecuniary inducements are paramount determinants!
When and where these rapacious viruses are contained and contended, institutional apparatchiks like security agencies and the election umpire, like Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), become complicit in the usurpation of the popular democratic wish of the people at the polls!
This must have precipitated the exasperation of many when President Bola Tinubu addressed the nation on the 3rd anniversary of his administration on May 29 l.
He reeled out figures and statistics of the achievement of his administration to support a growing economy, which millions are yet to feel the impact in their stomachs and pockets!
He scored himself above average in economic management, road infrastructure and political stability.
On the critical issue of internal insecurity, he never admitted any shortcoming, but stood on the same old hackneyed promise of security forces being equal to the task of neutralising insurgency nationwide.
I wonder how many Nigerians can cash this in any nearby bank of public trust! Truth be told, Mr President’s scorecard is not soul-lifting for millions who are daily toiling the streets as hewers of wood and drawers of water. And as a leader who prioritises politics over governance, I doubt if much will be achieved within the few months left to the end of his first term in office!
Still basking in the spirit of stewardship, Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom state also hosted a media parley in Uyo to present his scorecard a day after his 3rd anniversary in office.
Arguably, it was the best outing by any standard! He elected to go extempore and bilingual ( English and Ibibio), and many issues were dissected and garnished with anecdotes!
But tongues have continued to wag on the reported receipt of N2.5 trillion from Federal coffers since his assumption of office in 2023.
Some Mathematics’ freaks have posited that the figure has rubbished whatever previous Governors of the state received within such a short period!
The Governor’s answer to this question during another media forum was that more than 80 ongoing capital intensive projects could prove a judicious appropriation of such a humongous amount!
I beg to differ My Governor. Such a stupendous windfall deserves more than a blanket expenditure dismissal. Both recurrent and capital expenditures should be compartmentalised for the people to adequately understand how such amount was distributed and spent.
The focus should be on capital projects. That’s why many Akwa Ibomites have always insisted on contract sums being made public each time any capital project is awarded! Again, that is what every kobo spent on any project should be captured in the state’s Appropriation Act in line with the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) 2021.
Abiding with this legal and constitutional requirement helps transparency and accountability.
We have seen the architectural wonders and the scenery at the Ibom Palm Resort. Yes, the project is capital intensive. But what is the contract sum? Extensive renovation work is ongoing at Ibom Five star hotel. But at what cost? Ibom International hotel, International conference centre, new specialist hospital and another high brow hotel are money guzzling projects which the public are denied knowledge of their contract sums.
As life touching and economically viable as these projects may be, the citizenry, as collective proprietors of these projects, should not be in the dark on the cost of each of these projects!
It is not a novel demand in public financial management and accountability. Perfunctory reference to the approved state budget and yearly audited accounts of government are not expedient and hands on!
This should be the foundation for the much vaunted claim for transparency and accountability in the governance of the people’s resources. This is not too much to ask for. If we are to earn the trust and confidence of the people in the management of our state’s resources.
Okon, a lawyer and journalist, lives in Uyo.
