By Umar Farouk
Adversity comes in many forms-acute, cyclical, long-term, and systemic. It sometimes affects individuals or single firms; other times it cuts across a wide swath of entities. However, its pathology is consistent. Adversity constrains a key resource, which then depresses demand, supply, or both. That gives rise to unmet needs and releases other resources that become redundant.
But one distinction to make is that while some afflictions are natural, many are self inflicted and the rests are inflicted by those in the position of authorities on their subject via bad policies and enactments of unjust laws.
As we all know, while an unjust law on the other hand is a code that is out of harmony with moral laws’, Bad governance on its part entails the lack of diligent exercising of the economic, political and administrative authorities to manage a affair at all levels within the rule of law in such a manner that delivers maximum dividends to citizens’.
Conventionally also, governance is anchored on the constitution and effective leadership. With good policies and just laws, societies develop the capacity to strive for development. And government has great roles to play in planning for and accelerating this development process.
Despite this importance, there are glaring examples of situations where the planning processes and strategies by Jigawa state government were characterized by discontinuity, reversals and somersaults, or total lack of clear definition of problems, the goals to be achieved, or means chosen to address the problems-with virtually no consideration for connecting the poor with good means of livelihood-food, health, education and job.
Take as an illustration, at the examines relationship between growth and employment, and gain insights into the state’s paradox of high economic growth alongside rising poverty and inequality. Labour reallocations have been mainly from agriculture and manufacturing towards the low productive services sector. Employment elasticity of growth was positive and quite low, reflecting the state’s poor overall employment generation record.
Government should execute budgeting which involves, inter alia, the deployment of public resources to serve the common good and realise overall state and sectoral objectives is a critical activity of government that needs to be done with the utmost good faith, transparently and with the greatest sense of accountability and prospriety.
However, notwithstanding the possibility of this budget assent, the critical question is whether or not the social welfare, particularly of the millions people, who are poor, can be redeemed from their severe deprivations. Instructively, however, any reasonable projection of success must be guided by the potential impact of the strategic mix of variables in the 2021 budget.
This 2021 revised budget is the latest revelation supporting my argument, which signed by Govenor Muhammadu Badaru on 10th November 2021. Initially, the revised budget sought to superpassed the 2021 budget by 13.5%, that is higher than the initial approved budget in December 2020 by N21billion.
The inherent ill associated with the provisions in this year’s budget; titled ‘Budget of Consolidation For Sustainable Socio-Economic Development’, is that it exacerbated the governments’ mindless or near-exclusion of young people, interm of job creation and poverty alleavation from the budgetary allocations, this will bring a change, has finally come to the conclusion that nothing has changed.
I read and go through the budget again and again, then it rings the following questions; does this strategies make a political and socioeconomic sense? Is the state goverment’s action in accordance or resemblance of a government that believes in the saying that the future of strength of the people depends on the young people as their generation provides the next leaders?
As a matter of fact, the government are neither applying what the global community is teaching nor made effort to learn on the job. And have at the same time refused to meet with other that once had the problem we are currently faces, find out how they tackled it and how successful they have become.
The Govenor Badaru has constitutional and fiduciary duties to ensure a responsible budget spending and the well-being and prosperity of his people. Unless the reliefs sought are granted, the government will continue to benefit from the breach of the law, and the proposed spending of N177billion would leave the poorest and most vulnerable people without access to essential public goods and services, and burden the next generation.
Until the, those proposed spending is unsustainable, and the comatose state of poverty and youth employement in this state continues to be a problem even in political and social commentary.
Umar writes from Jahun, he can reaches via 07032843368.
