• About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
Saturday, May 31, 2025
  • Login
Vital News
  • Frontpage
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • National
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • More
    • Crime
    • Judiciary
    • Security
No Result
View All Result
  • Frontpage
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • National
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • More
    • Crime
    • Judiciary
    • Security
No Result
View All Result
Vital News
No Result
View All Result
Home National

What is Nigeria’s government for ?

Vital News by Vital News
February 2, 2022
in National
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

By David Pilling

President Muhammadu Buhari may go but it’s not the leader who matters, the system itself must change.

On the British Airways flight between London and Nigeria’s administrative capital of Abuja, one of the airline’s most profitable routes, nearly all the space is taken up with flatbeds. The unfortunate few making their way to a crunched economy section at the back must trudge through row after row of business class.

Evidently, there is plenty of money to be made in Abuja’s corridors of power. Nigeria’s economy may be flat on its back, but the political elite flying to and from London will spend the flight flat on theirs, too.

Next year, many of the members of government will change, though not necessarily the bureaucracy behind it. Campaigning has already begun for presidential elections that in February 2023 will draw the curtain on eight years of the administration of Muhammadu Buhari, on whose somnolent watch Nigeria has sleepwalked closer to disaster.

RelatedStories

President Tinubu Appoints Former Speaker, Yakubu Dogara As Chairman Of NCGC

May 29 : Ododo Lauds President Tinubu’s Courage, Resilience, Inspiring Leadership

PRESIDENT BOLA TINUBU’S STATEMENT ON THE SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF HIS ADMINISTRATION ON MAY 29, 2025

NSCDC Arrests 17 Illegal Miners In Kogi, Impounds 3 Trucks, 39 Motorcycles

Buhari has overseen two terms of economic slump, rising debt and a calamitous increase in kidnapping and banditry — the one thing you might have thought a former general could control. Familiar candidates to replace him, mostly recycled old men, are already counting their money ahead of a costly electoral marathon. It takes an estimated $2bn to get a president elected. Those who pay will expect to be paid back.

There are some promising candidates. If Yemi Osinbajo, the technocratic vice-president, were miraculously to make it through the campaign thicket and emerge as president, the hearts of Nigerian optimists would beat a little faster.

But that may be to underestimate the depth of Nigeria’s quagmire. The problem is not so much who leads the government as the nature of government itself.

Nigeria’s administration is fuelled by oil — though not its economy; more than 90 per cent of output is generated from non-oil activities. But for decades, the business of government — whether military or, since 1999, democratic — has been to control access to oil revenues and earn patronage by spreading petrol-dollars to federal and state supplicants.

Outside oil, government raises a petty amount of revenue, proportionally much less than other African states. Since the provision of services is so dire, no one who can afford to pay taxes is willing to do so. Nigerians with money opt out of the system. They send their kids to private school, attend private hospitals, employ their own private security and generate their own power. The state borrows ever more heavily to fund what little capital expenditure there is and service mounting debts. Like a giant leech at the top of the body politic, government is essentially there to fund itself.

This thwarts the aspirations of millions of highly capable Nigerians. Officials extract “rent” by controlling access to business opportunities. The objective thus becomes to slow down investment not speed it up.

Almost all the energy, drive and wealth creation in Nigeria happens outside government. New unregulated businesses in the booming tech sector, fashion, design and the creative arts are flourishing. Every day, tens of millions of Nigerians somehow get by, despite the efforts of those supposedly looking out for them.

As is said of India, Nigeria grows at night while the government sleeps — hardly surprising that some libertarian tech entrepreneurs want the government to withdraw and leave the private sector in charge.

In reality, the government is not too big. It is too small. The federal budget — not counting money transferred to states — is about $30bn, derisory for a population of more than 200m people. Only trust in government — and a willingness to pay taxes — can redress this balance.

Nigeria desperately needs an administration whose energies go not into preserving its own privilege but into providing public goods — basic education and health, rule of law, security, power, roads and digital infrastructure. It must remove distortions and subsidies that direct entrepreneurial activity from production to arbitrage.

The chances of a corrupt system reforming itself are slim. But if Nigeria’s ruling class cannot manage it, any remaining faith Nigerians have in their system of government will evaporate. That way lies disaster.
Financial Times (UK) 31 Jan 2022

david.pilling@ft.com

_David Pilling is a prize-winning reporter and has been editor with the Financial Times for twenty-five years. Throughout most of his career, he has been a foreign correspondent and is currently the Africa editor for the Financial Times._

Tags: BuhariEconomygoNigeria
Previous Post

Bill seeking scrap of NSCDC passes through second reading in the House of Reps

Next Post

APC Convention : NCPA backs Al-Makura for national Chairman position

Vital News

Vital News

RelatedStories

President Tinubu Appoints Former Speaker, Yakubu Dogara As Chairman Of NCGC
Economy

President Tinubu Appoints Former Speaker, Yakubu Dogara As Chairman Of NCGC

May 29, 2025
May 29 : Ododo Lauds President Tinubu’s Courage, Resilience, Inspiring Leadership
National

May 29 : Ododo Lauds President Tinubu’s Courage, Resilience, Inspiring Leadership

May 29, 2025
PRESIDENT BOLA TINUBU’S STATEMENT ON THE SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF HIS ADMINISTRATION ON MAY 29, 2025
National

PRESIDENT BOLA TINUBU’S STATEMENT ON THE SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF HIS ADMINISTRATION ON MAY 29, 2025

May 29, 2025
NSCDC Arrests 17 Illegal Miners In Kogi, Impounds 3 Trucks, 39 Motorcycles
Environment

NSCDC Arrests 17 Illegal Miners In Kogi, Impounds 3 Trucks, 39 Motorcycles

May 28, 2025
Tinubu, Dangote Refinery And Mele Kyari’s Sack
National

President Tinubu Departs To Lagos For Celebration of ECOWAS 50th Anniversary, To Commission Projects

May 27, 2025
Next Post

APC Convention : NCPA backs Al-Makura for national Chairman position

FG gives BUA nod to construct Kano -Kazaure - Kukula road at N115 billion

NBA raises alarm over kidnap of three lawyers in Edo

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Follow Us

Recommended

2023 Elections : Nigerians In Diaspora Sue Buhari, INEC

Foreign Hackers Attacking Our Database, INEC Raises Alarm

2 years ago
Plan To Falsely Label Ex – Gov. Yahaya Bello A Security Threat Dead On Arrival – Media Office

THE EFCC, YAHAYA BELLO, TOM AND JERRY : THE ALAWADA CIRCUS SHOW CONTINUES BY PROF MIKE OZEKHOME, SAN, CON, OFR, LL.D

8 months ago

Harness Nigeria’s population for growth, development – INGRA

3 years ago
Ogun Alerts Residents To Flooding, Urges Those Living On Flood Plains To Relocate

Ogun Alerts Residents To Flooding, Urges Those Living On Flood Plains To Relocate

1 year ago

Instagram

    Please install/update and activate JNews Instagram plugin.

Categories

  • Agriculture/ Water/ Mineral
  • Aviation
  • Business
  • Crime
  • Culture
  • Economy
  • Education
  • Entertainment
  • Environment
  • Football
  • Foreign
  • Gender
  • Health
  • Judiciary
  • Labour
  • National
  • News
  • Oil & Gas
  • Opinion
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Power
  • Religion
  • Security
  • Sports
  • Transport
  • Uncategorized

Topics

Abiodun Abuja APC arrest Atiku Bandits Bello Benue Buhari CBN Court Dangote death drugs Economy EFCC Election elections FG Fraud gunmen Hajj INEC Kano kidnap Kill Kogi Kwara Lagos NDLEA Niger Nigeria Ododo Ogun Oyo PDP Police Power refinery rescue road Security Senate students Tinubu
No Result
View All Result

Highlights

NGF Expresses Sympathy, Solidarity As Flood Devastates Mokwa Community In Niger State

21 Die, 10 Missing In Niger Flood Disaster

Sidi Ould Tah Elected New President Of AfDB

President Tinubu Appoints Former Speaker, Yakubu Dogara As Chairman Of NCGC

Midterm Performance : Taraba State Rated Least In IGR, Good Governance

School Wall Collapses On Students Writing WAEC In Taraba

Trending

Death Toll From Niger Flood Disaster Rises To 115,  Many Still Missing – NSEMA
Environment

Death Toll From Niger Flood Disaster Rises To 115, Many Still Missing – NSEMA

by Vital News
May 30, 2025
0

The Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) says death toll from the flood disaster that recently ravaged...

INEC Fixes July 20 And  August 8, 2026 For Ekiti, Osun Governorship Elections

INEC Fixes July 20 And August 8, 2026 For Ekiti, Osun Governorship Elections

May 30, 2025
Kwara Community Unites Against Female Genital Mutilation, Declares Zero Tolerance

Kwara Community Unites Against Female Genital Mutilation, Declares Zero Tolerance

May 30, 2025
NGF Expresses Sympathy, Solidarity As Flood Devastates Mokwa Community In Niger State

NGF Expresses Sympathy, Solidarity As Flood Devastates Mokwa Community In Niger State

May 30, 2025
21 Die, 10 Missing In Niger Flood Disaster

21 Die, 10 Missing In Niger Flood Disaster

May 29, 2025
ADVERTISEMENT
Vital News

Vital News is an online newspaper with a mission to uphold professional journalism by reporting and publishing only facts and figures-based news reports across Nigeria and beyond.

Recent News

  • Death Toll From Niger Flood Disaster Rises To 115, Many Still Missing – NSEMA May 30, 2025
  • INEC Fixes July 20 And August 8, 2026 For Ekiti, Osun Governorship Elections May 30, 2025
  • Kwara Community Unites Against Female Genital Mutilation, Declares Zero Tolerance May 30, 2025

Categories

  • Agriculture/ Water/ Mineral
  • Aviation
  • Business
  • Crime
  • Culture
  • Economy
  • Education
  • Entertainment
  • Environment
  • Football
  • Foreign
  • Gender
  • Health
  • Judiciary
  • Labour
  • National
  • News
  • Oil & Gas
  • Opinion
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Power
  • Religion
  • Security
  • Sports
  • Transport
  • Uncategorized

© 2022 Vital News - . All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Frontpage
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • National
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • More
    • Crime
    • Judiciary
    • Security

© 2022 Vital News - Vital News by Vital News.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In