By Oghenekevwe Laba
LAGOS AUGUST 13TH (URHOBOTODAY)-The Board of Trustees and entire members of Anioma Voice Worldwide has expressed utter dismay, total disapproval and rejection of the so-called “Capacity building Leadership course” currently being attended by members of the Delta State House Assembly under the leadership the Speaker of Delta State House of Assembly Hon. Victor Ochei, at the Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, the USA.
The group in a statement titled, “A Needless Jamboree” signed by Comrade Essem Victorio, National Public Relations Messenger and Comrade Frank Ofili Assistant National Chief Messenger made available to Urhobotoday argued that while they acknowledged the fact that some kind of capacity building, leadership training and refresher courses are sometimes necessary for public office holders in the course of carrying on their official responsibilities, they, however, quickly noted that such ventures in the past have not yielded any positive results for the people of Nigeria as participants have largely misunderstood the essence of such seminars.
The statement pointed out that under normal circumstances, the essence of such foreign seminars is for the participants to sharpen their skill and acquire knowledge in public policy making and implementation, as well as gain practical global knowledge of democratic tenets as obtained in advanced democracies, stressing that it is unfortunately that the case with Nigeria has been that of a wasteful adventure as participants took advantage to engage in wasteful spending spree.
“We recall that during the Second Republic, the then National Assembly members undertook a similar trip to the UK Parliament without anything to show for it. If anything, their subsequent obscene and disgraceful displays at the hallowed chambers of the Nigerian National Assembly at that time, contributed to the military take- over of 31st December 1983.
In 2012, members of the current Senate of the Federal Republic embarked on a week-long retreat in one of the south-south States. The Senate leadership claimed the retreat would enhance the legislative capacities and skills of members. We have since seen the outcome of that retreat in the fact that some members of the same Senate have not sponsored a single bill for two years. This is inspite of N30 million monthly remuneration and other perks of office. The question to ask is, what use was that retreat if it did not transform to improved performance on the part of the senators?
Equally worth recalling is the fact that not too long, a local government council in Delta state sent some officials on a similar course to South Africa and in the process squandered a huge amount of money at a time local government teachers were on an indefinite industrial action over government’s refusal to pay the national minimum wage of N18,000 per month. Other such wasteful jamborees have been carried out at national, state and local government levels since inception of the extant democratic dispensation in 1999, the statement disclosed.
Consequently, the group described the workshop as yet another thoughtless extravangaza for a few privileged coterie of government functionaries maintaining that any sensible and rational analysis of the costs and benefits of such training seminars would have revealed that it would have been more beneficial to invite the facilitators down to Nigeria instead of sponsoring a whole state legislature to such humongous expensive venture off-shore.
“Secondly, of what benefit is it to Delta State to sponsor legislators to such an expensive overseas training tour when a general election is less than 20 months away and it is obvious that some of the participants would not be re-elected as members of the House of Assembly?
“We see this off-shore training course as a needless jamboree and a waste of public funds that could have been better used to uplift the welfare of the people of Delta State. Consequently, we hereby categorically and unequivocally disapprove and reject it as reckless misuse of public funds. We hereby call on the State Government and the State legislature to immediately put an end to these senseless ill-advised spendthrifts.
“As a responsible and concerned citizen of Delta State whose primary objective is to promote good governance and accountable leadership, Anioma Voice Worldwide cannot close her eyes to these profligate expenditures which represent nothing but a mortgage against the future well-being of the youth of our state. Coming at a time graduate unemployment is spiraling out of control we view this so called seminar as a needless jamboree. We therefore demand an immediate recall of the participants, the statement ordered.