BEVERLY HILLS, April 07, (THEWILL) – The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, on Friday challenged governors of the 36 states to make public the amount they receive as security votes.
He stated this at a retreat organised by the National Assembly in Kaduna, in reaction to an earlier request by the host governor, Nasir el-Rufai for the legislature to make its budget public.
Dogara, who did not stop there, also challenged state governors to disclose the amount allocated to local governments.
“I will like to challenge him (el-Rufai) to champion this cause for transparency in the budgetary process from the national assembly to other arms of government.
“We want to see clearly how chief executives of states are paid. What do they spend monthly as security votes? And if they can publish what happens to local government funds under their jurisdictions. That will help our discussion going forward,” he said.
The Speaker, while identifying the National Assembly as the most misunderstood institution in the country, averred that no parliament in the world can win popularity contest.
“When, for instance, public discussions on funding of the legislature are being made, the entire bureaucracy is often completely discountenanced, neither is any consideration given to the fact that this is a special bureaucracy saddled with a multitude of ‘masters’ who must be equally served in addition to service to the nation.”
He further stated that the nation’s civil service will begin to record progress when it breaks away from its usual tradition to new ways of carrying out its functions.
Dogara maintained that there should be productivity and innovation in the workforce, which is borne out of motivation of staff through rewards such as promotions based on merit.
According to him, “As leaders, you must be prepared to motivate the workforce. Motivation is the key to innovation anywhere.
“For far too long, the bureaucracy in Nigeria has failed to innovate because it is locked in a tradition that defines boundaries that must not be crossed. A tradition that says we have always done it this way and apportions sanctions for those who dare doing it the other way even if the outcomes are better.
“These are chains that bind the bureaucracy in Nigeria from within. Although the most difficult chains to break are those within us, we must break them in order to free the bureaucracy and make it competitive and innovative. The key to achieving this is undoubtedly, training and retraining in an environment such as this.
“The necessity for every manager to fully understand the ecology of his organisation is not negotiable. The legislature is a distinct organisation with several peculiarities, thereby making strategic management approach an imperative.
“The management of the national assembly, whatever their managerial competencies, cannot provide efficient and effective services to the legislature except they fully understand and appreciate the organisational goals, objectives and the attendant challenges.
“I need not warn you of the bitter lesson of life, which is that it will never offer you more than who you are. But the good news is that you can become more. To become more, you must change your ideas and you will never change your ideas until you learn something new.
“New things learnt are useless and cannot result in growth until you put them to use. That is why you cannot over spend on training. Tell me the size of your organisation’s budget for training and retraining and I’ll predict with absolute certainty, the future of your organisation.”
