Orakpo Urges Govt, NASS to Reduce Cost of Governance
Managing Director, Transerve Disc Technologies Limited, Pastor Cyprian Orakpo, has urged the three tiers of government and national/state legislators to reduce wastes and high cost of governance in the country. He also said it is important to stop or reduce corruption.
He spoke to journalists in Lagos on last Wednesday on the sidelines of the public presentation of his book: “Journey to The Top.”
Orakpo who is the Pastor in charge of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Lagos Province 19, Strong Tower Sanctuary, Ogudu, explained that the book has basic principles and “when applied, would enable an individual, organisation and even a country to reach to the top.”
Orakpo said, “I do not really think that the debt is high. We have many countries that have higher debt per Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio than Nigeria. America and Japan for example are some of the most indebted nations in the world. But it is not just the volume of debt, that may not be saying it all.
“The problem we have is that we have low revenue, wastages and corruption. Most of this money borrowed are not productively utilized. Most are used to pay salaries, and allowances and unnecessary bureaucracies. Have you seen the escort vehicles that follow our leaders, ministers, legislators? Have you seen the allowances of the ministers, National Assembly members and their special assistants? Most of the debt are spent on consumption with zero value to the economy. So high debt is not a major problem but what they were used for.
“ We can produce most of what we import through encouragement of the real sector by providing basic infrastructures, single digit interest rates, improving on our ease of doing businesses, patronizing locally made products etc. Nigeria is a highly endowed nation with ample human and natural resources.
“We certainly can reduce our cost of governance. What are we doing with about 45 ministers and the bogous National Assembly? I learnt that USA does not have as many ministers as we do. Each of them may have more than five special assistants and other aides and they will all have accommodation, vehicles, allowances provided for them etc.
“Do we need such high number of government functionaries and their aides? Some of our problems might be traced to waste in government. There is so much waste in government in Nigeria. And we are asking the citizens to make sacrifices. What about our leaders? What sacrifice are they making for national development? Are they not one of the most paid public servants in the world? I believe that our leaders should lead in sacrifices for us to follow.
“I had been aiming to write a book to chronicle some principles that I unknowingly deployed, that I believe got me to where I am today, so that others can be in better control of their lives to determine where they want to be, either at the top or at the bottom. Achieving success in life is predictable. There are certain things which if you do, you will likely be successful. But there are certain things which if you also do not do, you cannot succeed in life.
“My wife has a bosom friend, Pastor Ngozi Okure, a prolific writer who has written 30 books. She is a missionary and wife of the Country Coordinator of the RCCG Mission in Venezuela, Pastor David Okure. She came to see me sometime in 2022 at the church which I was pastoring then, the RCCG, Peace Assembly, Victoria Island Lagos. She said that she followed my teachings on Journey to the Top both on site and online and decided to transcribe it into a book. I immediately concluded that God surely wanted me to write this book. So, I fleshed up the book a little more, added a few more explanations and testimonies and Bible passages, and the book was birthed.
“It was not as if I learnt all these principles. Some were learnt of course but most of them were just sheer providence that I stumbled into them and began to practise them. It was later when I went to Lagos Business School that I began to read about some of them. I was like, this is what I have been doing all along unknowingly. I, therefore, felt that I should put it in a book as a legacy for my generation and to assist anybody who is determined to reach the top of his life, career, marriage or vocation.”
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