COVID-19: ICT Expert Urges Executive, Legislature To Curb Waste, Manage Resources

An ICT expert, Dr Jamiu Yusuf, has urged the executive and legislative arms of government to be prudent in managing resources with lean management principles to ensure efficient public sector during the COVID-19 era.

Yusuf, who is the lead partner of an Abuja-based firm, Glodaris Technology Consulting, made the call in Abuja on Wednesday in an interview with thee Newsmen.

He said that the current situation in the world especially as it concerned the declining price of crude oil at the international market, necessitated by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, called for caution in the management of resources.

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“Nigeria needs an urgent economy recovery from the ills of coronavirus and declining oil price which remains abysmally slow, with declining real incomes that have negative implications on the national growth, price and exchange rate stability as well as employment.

“In other words, worsening oil prices and falling exchange rate will create fiscal crisis, imports will become more expensive and inflation pressures will rise, productive sector wobble, unemployment and poverty will worsen and external reserves further depleted.

“Therefore, there is urgent need to apply lean management principle in order to re-organise our priorities, at both the executive and parliamentary arms of governance.

“The wastages in the executive arm in terms of overlapping of jurisdictions of activities in governance must be urgently eliminated or reduced and remunerations for unnecessary activities removed.

“On the parliamentary side, the cost of maintaining this arm of governance is out of tune with the current realities and need to be reduced drastically.

According to Yusuf, the pandemic has affected every sector of the economy, including health and education, a situation he said has giving rise to maternal death.

He regretted that much attention had been focused on coronavirus thereby neglecting people with other health issues especially the pregnant women.

Yusuf added: “Maternal death is likely to continue in the medium to long term if nothing urgent is done.

“The majority of women in rural areas of the country have no education, no access to skilled birth attendant, no exposure, no family planning, early age of childbearing and no access to information.”