Editorial Archives - Business Journal

The 2015 Presidential Election ended on Saturday, March 28, 2015. It now belongs to the history books. Regardless of the pros and cons of the polls, it came and went.

And in a commendable act worth eulogising, the then incumbent president, Goodluck Jonathan conceded defeat and congratulated the declared winner, Muhammadu Buhari, a development that earned widespread local and international applause for Nigeria as a nation.

The recent public declaration of assets by President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has opened a new vista of public life by public officials in Nigeria.

The reason is simple: public declaration of assets by public officials has never been an easy task in Nigeria due to personal pecuniary interest in the line of duty. Over the years, stories have been told (real and imagined) of how people of lesser resources go into public office, either elected or appointed, and suddenly become immensely wealthy without verifiable source(s) of income other than being in public office or government.

At first, it was a rumour. Then, the rumor became stronger. And then, the rumour became political allegation that the federal and state
governments could no longer pay salaries because public funds were deployed by the two major political parties to prosecute the 2015 general elections.

Today, the situation has become a national embarrassment that Nigeria cannot pay its civil servants-from federal government to state governments. While actual figures of the total indebtedness at the federal and state levels is difficult to ascertain, various media reports quoted N110 billion as the total sum due to the unfortunate government employees.