The economy is in a bind, inevitably spurring the call by the Tinubu administration for sacrifice on the part of the citizenry to pull the nation out.

On his inauguration day, President Bola Tinubu removed subsidy on petrol that had cost the nation trillions of Naira as part of the sacrifice.

He has since followed up with the merging of the multiple foreign exchange rates, a situation that has led to the depreciation of the Naira at the official window.

The implication is not lost on the citizenry  who now have to cope with the attendant inflation.

And arising from the foreign exchange rates merger was the announcement last week that electricity tariff would go up as power distribution companies said the concession they were getting from the official window was gone and this would raise their cost of production.

The announcement has since been reversed but the hike is only a matter of time as the reversal came about because due process was not followed and the tariff had not been approved by the authorities

Also last week, indications emerged that vehicle owners will have to pay yearly for proof of ownership contrary to the outgoing era that makes the payment one-off in the life of a vehicle.

Other belt-tightening measures to free funds for government to meet its obligations may soon follow.

But amid the call on the citizenry for sacrifice to pull Nigeria out of the woods, many people are worried about jumbo cost of governance occasioned by what some call questionable budgetary allocations by government at different levels.

For instance, the Buhari administration made provisions of N11.92 billion for feeding and foreign trips of the President and Vice President in the 2023 Budget of the Federal Government which Tinubu and VP Shettima have now inherited.

A breakdown shows that N331.79 million would be spent on the President’s feeding while that of his deputy is N176.92m.

When put together, the nation would be spending N508.71 on food and refreshments for their President and VP at the end of the fiscal year.

Local and foreign trips for the President and his vice would cost over N3 billion.

N2.49 billion was earmarked for the office of the President while his deputy gets N846.61 million.

Also included are N1.58bn earmarked for aircraft maintenance and N1.60bn allocated for overhauling of Gulfstream GV and CL605 aircraft engines.

10 aircraft

According to Vanguard,  in the heat of the criticism generated by the huge budgetary allocation for aircraft maintenance during the Buhari administration, then spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu, said there were 10 planes in the presidential fleet.

They include two AgustaWestland AW 139 helicopters, two AugustaWestland 101 helicopters, two Falcons 7X, one Hawker Sidley 4000, Boeing Business Jet, Boeing 737-800 or NAF 001, one Gulfstream 550, one Gulfstream V and one Gulfstream 500.

It could not be established if any aircraft was added to the fleet between when the former presidential spokesperson made the disclosure and now.

Economists argue that even rich countries like the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK) don’t feed their President and Prime Minister respectively, saying it is an anomaly for a poor nation like Nigeria to vote humongous funds to feed its leaders.

They also contend that very few countries across the world maintain as many as 10 planes in their presidential fleet as Nigeria does.

For instance, according to them, when the leaders of some of these countries use planes in the presidential fleet for personal purposes, they pay.

Nigeria’s bureaucracy is also seen as bloated, thus consuming a large chunk of government revenues.

For example, the National Assembly, NASS, in the 2003 Appropriation Act, was allocated N328.1 billion, the highest in 23 years.

A breakdown shows that the funds were tied to several purposes, with some still generating ripples.

One such is N16, 520, 653, 763 budgeted for Senators and members of the House of Representatives’ aides.

There is also N8.5billion for National Assembly liabilities, the details of which weren’t spelled out.

Also, N100 billion was approved for Zonal Intervention Programmes, ZIPs, otherwise known as Constituency Projects.

The money, which is for the 469 federal legislators, has been an issue of controversy as lawmakers are often accused of mismanagement of funds meant for such projects.

Only last week, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abass, appointed 33 aides, bringing the number of his appointees to 35.

Abass argued that the appointments would ensure effective delivery of his agenda for the House. The last occupant of the office had no fewer than 33 aides.

In 2016, a NAN report pegged the number of legislative aides at 2,570.

According to the National Assembly Act, each lawmaker is entitled to five aides.

The Act says the Senate President is entitled to 45 aides, his deputy 30 and 20 each for principal officers.

For the Speaker of the House, the Act provides 35 assistants for him, Deputy Speaker, 15, and 10 each for the six principal officers.

Consequently, there are fears that by the time Senate President Godswill Akpabio and other principal officers of the National Assembly finish appointing their aides, Nigeria’s leaders at the NASS level may end up having over 1, 000 aides.

Now add this to the cost of running the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) at the federal level.

State level

Across the states, the situation is not entirely different as new governors have so far retained the bloated bureaucracy of their predecessors.

All these are happening in a nation facing a N77 trillion debt crisis.

Only recently, the Debt Management Office, DMO, warned the Federal Government against additional borrowing, saying 73.5 percent of revenue generated this year would be used to service debt.

According to the DMO, the projected FGN Debt Service to Revenue ratio of 73.5 percent for 2023 is high and cannot support higher levels of borrowing, and is also a threat to debt sustainability.

Consequently, it advised government to focus on increasing revenue generation.

Slim government

Some concerned Nigerians said it would be wrong for the Tinubu administration to tell Nigerians to make sacrifices and still ignore the urgent need for reduction in the cost of governance.

The authorities, drawn from key sectors including  the academia, however, suggested ways government can reduce the size of governance and plug leakages.

In an earlier interview with Vanguard, the Labour Party, LP, last Thursday, accused the ruling party at the federal level, the All Progressives Congress, APC, of showing early signs of continuing “the wasteful lifestyle” of its predecessor.

Acting National Publicity Secretary of the party, Obiora Ifoh, said it was an irony that the administration would ask Nigerians to “tighten their belts and make sacrifices” while living in opulence.

On his part, Chairman, HEDA Resource Centre, Mr. Olarenwaju Aregbabo, said there is no better time to reduce cost of governance but now.

Budget

Aregbabo said: “It is really a very serious issue that we must actually contend with. It is a concern. Unfortunately, we focus much on the Presidency, beyond what we also have at the state level. We have state governors who have allocations outside the security votes. At the federal level, apart from the budget for food in the President’s house, there is also an allowance given to the President and the Vice President to take care of whatever it is they have to take care of daily.

“In advanced countries, if a President is inviting anybody to lunch or dinner, it is from his or her pocket and not from the government purse. It is not for the President to create a situation where you have money going for everything.

“It is very important that we continue to bring this out in the open. A number of those who are meant to talk about this are not talking because they also benefit from it. So, for the few of us who are really concerned about it, it’s necessary that we keep raising questions.