Lessons from Ghana for Nigeria 

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu congratulating Ghana President John Mahama after the swearing in in Accra Ghana

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu congratulating Ghana President John Mahama after the swearing in in Accra Ghana

The newly sworn in President of Ghana, John Mahama, last week taught Nigeria a big lesson when he slashed the number of ministries from 30 to 23 through an executive order aimed at reducing government expenditure.

The decision, announced in a gazette dated January 9, eliminated seven ministries, including Information, Sanitation and Water Resources, National Security, Railway Development, Parliamentary Affairs, Public Enterprises and Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs. These ministries were established under the previous administration of Nana Akufo-Addo.

Under Mahama’s streamlined government, key ministries include Finance, Health, Education, Defence, Energy and Green Transition, Transport and Gender, among others.

This cost-cutting measure highly contrasts with Nigerian President Bola Tinubu’s expansion of ministers from 44 to 48 in 2023, a move that drew criticism amid Nigeria’s worsening cost-of-living crisis.

It is no longer in doubt that in Nigeria, the cost of governance over the years is becoming increasingly  unsustainable as recurrent expenditure continues to significantly exceed capital expenditure. 

It is imperative to note that many developing countries all over the world are making concerted efforts at reducing the cost of governance in order to conserve funds for infrastructural development that would impact positively on the lives of the citizens.

 Other countries like India, Ethiopia, Thailand, Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda, among others, had further resorted to reduction in the number of political appointees involved in the act of administration thereby making the government efficient in the management of its scarce resources.

It is believed that for any society to make meaningful progress there ought to be a competent and cost-effective management system that is capable of maximising the nation’s scarce resources to the benefit of all.  

The essence of efficiency in governance is to ensure that public funds are spent judiciously. In other words, every kobo must be fully accounted for and spent judiciously for the welfare of the masses. One way to achieve this is cut down on bureaucracy, appointments, lifestyle, unauthorised and wasteful spending.

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