Recently, I flew to Abuja – Nigeria’s federal capital to
do something, for the return trip out of Abuja, my friend, a Director with a
federal agency whom I visited after work, offered to take me to the airport the
next morning. We were talking about our very corrupt system and how we need to
take deliberate steps to stem our path to self-destruction.
I raised an issue that often bothers me: the free use of government
official vehicles for private purposes. My friend thought that was an insignificant
corruption issue in Nigeria.
I countered him by analyzing how it is a huge drain on
our resources when thousands of vehicles are used for private purposes. I
immediately told him I hope it was not his official car taking me to the
airport tomorrow. He still thought that was the least of our corruption
problems.
The next morning, he told me how he reflected on our discussion
overnight, and decided to send his private car rather than the official car. But
the driver was a government driver. I was happy that he at least, he
appreciated the ethical issues we discussed the previous day.
All too often, we use and enjoy public properties with
the most extreme impunity. Let me just focus here on how we abuse official vehicles,
especially those that belong to the government.
Let me start with a bit of shame history. In 1996,
Ibrahim Sani Abacha, son of Nigeria’s ruler Sani Abacha died in a plane crash.
The plane was one of the planes on the Presidential fleet of aircrafts. The guy
died with his group of friends. This was a gross abuse. He had no business
flying our Presidential jet.
A couple of years ago in Sokoto, I saw a young teenager
cruising to buy fuel in a Toyota Hilux truck belonging to (and clearly labelled
so) the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) on a Saturday. I was outraged
inside me.
Often during holiday seasons like Christmas and Eid or Sallah
periods, we come across convoys of staff cars clearly belonging to the police,
or Immigrations, or Customs, and other such government agencies, shipping whole
large families to their ‘home towns’ for holidays. Some of the cars and drivers
stay the entire holiday with their bosses’ families – when their salaries are
paid by the government.
We cruise in government vehicles at night and outside
office hours, to parties, to private weddings. It is wrong.
We cruise in government vehicles to church, to leisure
and weekend trips that are completely private. It is not done anywhere! Let
families quietly and privately travel to their hometowns for vacations. Let
people drive themselves to church or Friday mosque in their private vehicles.
In Abuja, we see how government drivers ship wives of
government officials to Wuse market, to Banex Plaza and other places for
private shopping activities. Drivers park and wait for long in these markets
and shopping complexes, during office hours. Some of the drivers go on to carry
bags and wares and follow wives and children about the market, until they
finish their shopping.
This is not right. These are the things that drain the
commonwealth. This is not done in any sane government.
In Yola, Adamawa State, I noticed an ambulance of the
State Specialist Hospital daily and routinely drop off children in Aliyu Musdafa Academy
– near the Catholic Cathedral, morning and afternoon. It is so everywhere in
Nigeria. Government vehicles and government drivers are used to drop off and
pick up children from school. This is a form corruption that drains the
commonwealth.
Years back in Kubwa - Abuja, a fellow with the federal fire
service routinely drove a fire service van to his regular joint, weekdays and
weekends. This is the same service that does not effectively respond to
emergency calls.
Funerals, weddings, naming ceremonies, birthday
ceremonies etc are private ceremonies and officials should completely use
private means to commute to such events.
Ideally, the use of government, or official vehicles
should be governed by strict regulations and guidelines. No official vehicle
should be seen moving outside of official hours, unless it is shipping office
people to or from official duty afield. In such cases, they leave very early to
reach their official destination or are returning late from their official
destination.
No official vehicle should be seen traveling during
weekends or public holidays, unless it is travelling with officials going to or
returning from official field work. No official vehicle should be seen dropping
off or picking children from schools.
Sometime during the time of Olusegun Obasanjo (2003-2007),
it was Nasir El-Rufai that led some public service reforms that tried to
address this kind of abuses through monetizing the official car benefits for
Directors of the federal departments. The reforms were quickly reversed after
the death of Yar’adua, Obasanjo’s successor.
I call on the Government of Mohammadu Buhari to end this
huge drain on our commonwealth so that we can have resources to address other
pressing needs.