In line with the need to make adjustments following COVID-19 induced oil price shocks, there here is a need for the Federal Government to firstly suspend staff promotion across board for the next 24 months. It is good that the government has suspended further employment in the civil service. It is hoped this is carried out sincerely. Second, the government has to each a deal with the National Assembly to slash the emoluments of their members by 60 percent for the next 24 months
Also, all the members of the Federal Executive Council should slash their emoluments by 60 percent. A similar deal has to be struck with the Judiciary to also slash their emoluments by 30 percent. Importantly, government should scrutinise the entire 2020 Appropriation Act and remove those consumables, which should not be purchased yearly. The administration should immediately stop further procurement of new vehicles and furniture for the next 36 months. Let us use what we have for now. Very few people replace their vehicles and furniture yearly on their own after all.
In the face of the current crisis, an important question is whether realistic for Nigeria to pay the amount agreed as new minimum wage? This should be discussed. Let the Presidency reduce the number of advisers in its employ. There is so much duplication of duties being performed by the advisers. Fact is : President Buhari does not need the number of advisers he has at present. Subsequently, there is need for a directive to the existing agencies and parastatals like the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) to start drawing their own salaries from the Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS)
Another key question is: do we need the number of people in our foreign missions as they are now? What about the expenditure incurred on them? Can we afford it as things stand now and even in the medium term? Can we now sell some of the aircrafts in the presidential air fleet? I understand there are about 6 aircrafts in the fleet. We can sell, say, three and use the proceeds to fund Primary Health care delivery across the country.
Important too is the fact that we need to merge duplicated agencies into few and save some overheads costs. Added to this is the fact that the FG should seriously consider further Public Private Partnership (PPP) model in the provision of some critical infrastructure like the road network. We should start considering the re-introduction of toll gates. The FG needs to use this period to resolve the challenges in the power sector especially the transmission and the distribution segments. Do we want to do an outright privatization of the transmission side or not? What about the cost reflective tariff?
Finally, our lenders (foreign) are aware of the implications of COVID-19 and oil price shock on both aggregate demand and supply and by extension our public finance. As such , the first thing to do is to reach a deal with them for a debt restructuring. Even International Monetary Fund (IMF) realises the fact that most emerging markets would have to restructure their debt payments. About NLNG, there are conversations that Nigeria should consider a partial sale of her holdings in the company. Can we sell, say, a third of our existing 49 percent equity and use same to strictly finance some critical infrastructure? A concern is that this might not be the best time to sell because of the happenings in the global energy market.
Ogunniyi, a Lagos based Risk Advisor is The Explainer Economy Analyst.
