From Prime Minister to Prime Minister, no one ever had a convoy of 4 cars on their way to and from the palace. I watched the live telecast of the inauguration of Blair, Brown, Cameron, May and now Johnson. Some moved with just 2 and others with 3 cars.
Compare this to Nigeria’s presidential movement. You will surely lose count of the number of cars in the motorcade. The country/ people that claim don’t have money spend far more than the people they look up to for grants.
We are applauding the speed with which PM Johnson appointed some members of his cabinet within 24 hours. We should also know how cabinet members are appointed and their entitlements. In the UK, nobody is buying any bulletproof jeep for just anybody because their level don change.
But in Nigeria, Being a minister is an indication that you don hammer. 43 ministers in Nigeria equals purchase of 43 or 86 bulletproof SUVs for the ministers.
Bulletproof SUVs costs between 90m and 200m depending on which brand you are buying. Assuming they buy 1 each at 120 million Naira for every minister, that amounts to 5.1 billion Naira. If 2, over 10 billion.
Here, a Minister will have a convoy. Some will have 5 cars in their motorcade, some 8, some10. This translates to the purchase of at least 86 Hilux escort vehicles, about 86 protocol cars, 43 buses, about 300 other vehicles for PAs, SAs and other staff etc. So Without salaries, housing allowance etc, you can be sure that spending to buy cars to onboard these ministers will cost nothing less than 15 billion Naira.
This is just one very small reason why the appointment of ministers in Nigeria is a big deal.
