Austerity: PENGASSAN asks FG to reduce political appointees

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has asked the Federal Government to prune down the number of aides attached to political office holders instead of imposing 'unnecessary austerity measures' on Nigerians.

The President of the association, Mr. Francis Johnson, said this in a statement on Tuesday.

Johnson argued that the large number of political appointees as aides to the Presidency, ministers, governors and their commissioners were 'simply a waste of national resources and putting pressure on the economy.'

The PENGASSAN leader also cautioned the Federal Government, especially the Federal Ministry of Finance against destroying the economy through withholding of funds for human and developmental projects.

He advised that instead, the ministry should 'tighten the noose around all avenues of leakages and wastages.'

The statement read in part, 'The cost of governance in Nigeria is too high and irrational, and if we are looking for ways to cut cost, I think the first place to exemplarily focus on is in the direction of reducing the numbers of political appointees to the barest minimum. The huge amount we spend in paying these aides can be used for developmental projects and boosting of the nation's economy

'The governors, ministers and federal and state legislators should also be made to reduce their aides to a sizeable number that our economy can bear and whatever is gotten from this exercise should be used in supporting and bolstering the economy.'

The union leader also called on the Federal Government to develop other sectors along with the extractive and manufacturing industries as a way of diversifying the national economy from its overdependence on oil revenue.

Johnson noted that the price of oil was critical to the world economy, given that oil was the largest internationally traded commodity.

According to the PENGASSAN President, it is only the development of the other minerals, agricultural and the manufacturing sectors that could help Nigeria to escape the vagaries of the challenges posed by the dwindling global oil prices. - Punch.