Recently, while speaking at an event in Asaba, the capital of Delta State, on civil service reforms, the Central Bank Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido, in his characteristic manner of shooting from the hip called that for the civil service to be efficient, there is a need to sack as much as half of the workforce. Since then, there has been a lot of criticism trailing that remark, most especially from the labour unions that have even gone as far as calling for his sack.
But let us examine Sanusi’s statement closely: is the civil service inefficient? Yes! Is the civil service bloated and oversized? Definitely!! Isn’t there a need to trim the size of the civil service as part of reforming it? Of course!! Will trimming the civil service free up funds that could be put into capital projects? Without a doubt!! Why then are Nigerians calling for the head of this foremost central banker?
Without doubt, suggesting the retrenchment of civil servants is an unpopular call, but nonetheless, one that is, without doubt, the reality of the situation. He might have called the figure of 50% of the top of his head and might seem high, but he might not be far from the truth. We are an economy where the Federal Government is the highest employer of labour when it should be the private sector. What is even worse is that many, if not most civil servants go to the office and do little or nothing besides chit-chats and turning their offices into market stalls.
In the past two years, there have been at least 2 panels set up by government that have both recommended the trimming of the Federal Government through the merger or abolishment of certain ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), ditto the T.Y. Danjuma-led Presidential Advisory Council and the Stephen Oronsanye-led Presidential Committee on the Reform of Government Agencies. Both times, the suggestions were hailed as the right way to go, even by labour unions. Of course, there is no way MDAs will be trimmed without their workers being let go, a fact that may have been lost on the labour unions.
Our budgets at present are heavily tilted towards recurrent expenditure, being spent on salaries and wages, rather than capital expenditure which would create infrastructure and an enabling environment where wealth will be created. There is an urgent need for us to change the status quo, and we have to cut down the cost of running the government. Inasmuch as we need to start from reducing the salaries of our political office holders (Sanusi once mentioned that the National Assembly consumed 25% of the federal budget, and instantly became a national hero), there is also the need for us to trim the civil service and make it more efficient in its work.
Outright sacking might not be the way to go, as it will have a negative effect on our economy and security. The preferred way for us to go about it is to borrow from the work of former FCT Minister Nasir el-Rufai, who in conjunction with Bureau of Public Service Reforms succeeded in trimming the civil service by 35, 000 workers. They achieved this by assessing the experience and qualifications of the workers vis-à-vis the needs of the MDAs. They then paid them their full benefits and let them go. This is what the Federal Government should apply, and also provide ways to help these workers being let go use their money to set up business ventures.
In conclusion, however, the most efficient way to make these reforms last long is to speed up the growth of the private sector. This will not only make it unnecessary to focus on the government as the employer of labour; rather, they will perform their expected role as an enabler of business. Also, they will be forced to make government services efficient so that business and citizens can leverage it to create wealth in the nation.
One thing is non-debatable though: Sanusi was right in calling for the trimming of the civil service.
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