A former Minister of Information and Enugu State 2023 APGA gubernatorial candidate, Frank Nweke II has bewailed the procurement of new SUVs for members of the National Assembly every four years, wondering who bears the expenses, while calling on the Federal Government to reduce the cost of governance and also merge some ministries.
He made the call on Friday when he was featured on Channel Television’s Politics Today while responding to a question thrown to him on analyzing the sensibility behind the cost of the SUVs.
“There’s even something I thought you might have asked right. The last national assembly, four years prior, vehicles were also procured. What is the method of of actually depreciating those vehicles? Why’s it that every four years we need a new one?
“At whose expense are these vehicles being procured? One of the things you read out was actually the RMAFC law and everything – you stated it there. So, we must go further to find out, having flouted it, at whose expense are these vehicles being procured? Do these national assembly members eventually pay for it? When they are leaving, they are also given a severance allowance.
“So, there’s a failure to understand that we are undermining our own economy”, Nweke said.
The former minister went on to say there was “a possibility” that the creation of some ministries by the new administration of President Bola Tinubu may be to compensate loyalists.
“First of all, I mean, I have my concerns about certain aspects of certain decisions that have been taken for instance. I mean, this decision to expand this cabinet, right, which was even at about 43 at a time, it is almost 50 now,” he said.
“I mean, given the dire economic circumstances in which we are – for me, I don’t know what the consideration is – but from an outsider’s perspective, I think that if I had a chance to make an input, I would say that we must be we must do everything that is practical to reduce the cost of government, to reduce the size of government at this time, not to expand it, not to increase the cost of government.
“Then of course, if I had a chance to make an input, I would express very deep concerns about certain thrusts of the supplementary budget, for instance, certain expenditures have been you know that have been suggested for certain things that we absolutely do not need at this time.
“So, the other way to look at it is the proliferation of these ministries. You’re gonna look at some of them and you’re asking ‘Why is this ministry here and you still have this one, right? Some of these ministries ought to coexist.”
While enjoining Nigerians to put aside ethno-religious biases in supporting the Tinubu administration, he charged President Tinubu to understand that history beckons, noting that the president “has a tremendously opportunity to really deal with the significant public trust issues that accompany the administration”.