The excess crude revenue that came the way of Nigeria in recent months, has become a major issue of controversy in recent weeks. While many of the governors have been calling for the sharing of the monies to be able to apply them to development needs in their various states, the federal government has taken a different position, insisting that the money be saved for a rainy day, when revenues might drop drastically.
The controversy nudged upwards a bit, when suspicions were raised, that contrary to its public statements, the federal government had in fact been secretly dipping its hands into the excess crude account to finance its expenditure. These claims were strenuously denied by officials of the government at first, including the finance minister, who many people describe as one of the credible members of the Obasanjo government, as well as the officials of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). It was therefore a surprise to most Nigerians, when the same finance minister owned up that they had infact been illegally spending the monies in the unconstitutional manner that has become the wont of the Obasanjo administration.
It came as no surprise therefore, when the National Council of State, attempted to meet the governors halfway, by its decision that of the total N629 billion in the excess crude account, 50 percent of the amount, or N314 billion be shared amongst the three tiers of government. With that, the federal government would get N146 billion, the states will gross N74 billion, with N57 billion going to the local governments and another N44 billion being set aside for the derivation fund.
Expectedly, a lot of hand wringing and salivating have been taking place in different quarters at the three levels of government. The truth is that a lot of money would be coming into the system, and if past actions serve as guide, these would be monies that would not be properly appropriated in the interest of the Nigerian people.
The various levels of government would fritter away these huge amounts without any mindful appreciation of the problems that the Nigerian people have been confronting due to the irresponsible and profligate propensities of our political class. The lesson of the past five years, since 1999, when we have earned record revenue from oil than at any other period in Nigeria’s history shows that those who rule us at the three levels cannot be trusted to spend the excess crude revenue wisely.
We have a suggestion therefore. We vote for the application of these monies, the ENTIRE sum of N629 billion to the complete overhaul of Nigeria’s comatose railway system. These railways with roots in the colonial enterprise of opening up of Nigeria for the extraction of peasant-produced surplus, has been left in ruins in the past three decades or so.
A national railways system that traverses north to south, east to west, will assist in the consolidation of the national economic system of Nigeria, by opening up several parts of our country to modern economic activities. It would be an infrastructural investment, that would remove the considerable strain on the road transportation corridor, while helping in the massive evacuation of goods, services and people.
An integrated, modern railways system will significantly help to contribute to the solution of the nagging problem of unemployment in the country. The opening up of new railway stations all across our country would also mean the opening up of points of economic activity that will have a very healthy multiplier effect on the economic life of communities, villages, towns, cities and states all over Nigeria.
There is also the possibility that we could use the opening up of a national railways rehabilitation and reconstruction project to help significantly reduce the problems associated with incessant fuel price hikes, that have defied solution in the past five years.
The Nigerian ruling class should for once, learn to be responsible to Nigeria’s present and future by abandoning its greed which the sharing of the excess crude fund will only lubricate, by putting these monies into a project, such as the rehabilitation and reconstruction of our national railways system. It would be a visible legacy that Nigerians would enjoy for a very long time. We vote for the Railways.
