A financial expert, Mr. Johnson Chukwu has observed that the only practical way to reduce the recurrent expenditure of the Federal Government will be to grant financial autonomy to revenue generating agencies of the Federal Government.
Chukwu who made this known in an interview with Primetime Reporters in Lagos contended that since it would not be in the interest of the government to retrench its employees or to rationalize the existing Ministries since it would still lead to job loss, granting semi-autonomy to revenue generating agencies of the Federal Government like the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and other such agencies would be the way out.
According to Chukwu who is also the Managing Director and Chief executive Officer of Cowry Asset Management Limited, the issue of reduction in the recurrent expenditure of government was not as easy as people present it as according to him, the government’s primary objective was to improve the welfare and wellbeing of its citizens adding that when the government retrenches, it negates the primary objective of improving the welfare and wellbeing of its citizens.
“So, for you to cut down overhead as it is presented, a number of things have to be done, one of which is a direct retrenchment and I do not think that the objective of government is to retrench and create more hardship.
“The other aspect is rationalizing the Ministries. If you rationalize the Ministries, it will still lead to retrenchment but I think what they should do is to look at those parastatals that revenue generating agencies and make them semi-autonomous or financially independent so that they generate their revenue and pay the surplus to the government instead of a situation where employees in those establishments are not accountable and they do not have any revenue target.
“So, if the likes of NNPC, the likes of NIMASA all become financially autonomous like what the initial PIB meant to do, to create autonomous entities from NNPC that will be self funded, I think that way, the government should be able to reduce the number of employees who do not have any revenue budget”, he said.
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