Government Performance is Not Political Charity

By

Abu-Ubaida SANI, Ph.D.
Department of Languages and Cultures,
Federal University Gusau, Zamfara, Nigeria
Email: abuubaidasani5@gmail.com | abu-ubaidallah@fugusau.edu.ng
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6447-4334 | WhatsApp: +2348133529736

There is a mindset we urgently need to change in Nigeria: government projects are not personal gifts from politicians.

When a government constructs a road, school, hospital, water project or other infrastructure, it is using public resources to fulfil a public responsibility.

Yet, we sometimes celebrate politicians as though they personally financed these projects.

This raises an important question: why do we celebrate the spending of public money as though it were private charity?

Public Money Belongs to the Public

Government receives money from public revenues, including taxes, duties, natural-resource revenues and borrowing. That money is entrusted to government to provide services and infrastructure for citizens.

Therefore, when a government builds a road, it is not simply "giving" citizens a road. It is implementing part of its responsibility to the people.

The appropriate response should not be blind applause. It should be appreciation accompanied by accountability.

Citizens should ask:

• How much was budgeted?

• How much was actually spent?

• What was the original scope of the project?

• When was it supposed to be completed?

• Who was awarded the contract?

• Was the procurement process properly followed?

• What was actually delivered?

• Does the quality of the work justify the resources committed?

These questions are not signs of opposition. They are signs of responsible citizenship.

We Must Stop Celebrating Partial Performance

Another problem is the tendency to celebrate leaders simply because they have done something - even when what they have done represents only a fraction of what they promised.

Suppose a politician makes ten major promises and fulfils three. The three achievements should be acknowledged, but the seven outstanding commitments should not disappear from public discussion.

A government should be assessed by its overall performance, not by its most visible achievements.

Similarly, commissioning a project does not automatically mean that the government has succeeded. Citizens should examine its cost, quality, completion status and actual impact.

A beautiful commissioning ceremony can tell us that a project has been inaugurated. It does not necessarily tell us whether the project represents good value for public money.

Citizens Need to Read the Numbers

Political awareness should go beyond knowing the names of politicians, their political parties, ethnic identities and religious affiliations.

Citizens should also know:

What is in the budget?

What was actually implemented?

Which projects were completed?

Which were abandoned?

How much was allocated?

How much was spent?

What did citizens actually receive for the money?

The 2023 Open Budget Survey gave Nigeria a score of 31 out of 100 for budget transparency and 19 out of 100 for public participation, pointing to significant weaknesses in citizens' access to budget information and opportunities to participate in the budget process.

This creates responsibilities on both sides. Government needs to make public financial information more accessible and understandable, while citizens need to develop the habit of seeking, reading and questioning that information.

Poverty Also Weakens Accountability

It is difficult to expect a citizen struggling every day to provide food, pay school fees, afford transportation and survive rising living costs to spend sufficient time monitoring government budgets and projects.

The World Bank estimates that a large proportion of Nigerians continue to live in poverty, making economic insecurity one of the major challenges facing the country.

Poverty can create dependence, and dependence can make citizens more vulnerable to political patronage.

This is why development should not be measured only by the number of projects commissioned. A government that genuinely wants empowered citizens should also invest in education, information, economic opportunity and institutions that enable citizens to hold power accountable.

Stop Treating Politicians Like Benefactors

We need to change the language we use.

Instead of:

"Our governor gave us this road."

We should be asking:

"What did the government budget for this road, what was spent, and what value did the people receive?"

Instead of:

"Our senator has done so much for us."

We should ask:

"What were the commitments, what was delivered, and what evidence supports the claim of performance?"

This is not about refusing to appreciate good work.

It is about distinguishing public service from political generosity.

A politician should not become a personal benefactor simply because public resources were used to implement a public project.

Accountability is Not Political Opposition

One of the most important lessons citizens need to understand is that accountability is not the same as opposition.

You can support a government and still question its decisions.

You can appreciate a project and still question its cost.

You can acknowledge an achievement and still demand explanations for failures.

Likewise, opposing a government should not mean rejecting everything it does.

A mature citizen should be able to say:

"This was done well."

And, at the same time:

"This was promised but not delivered."

Both statements can be true.

The Citizen Must Become the Watchdog

Perhaps Nigeria needs not only better leadership but also a more informed and demanding citizenry.

An informed citizen is harder to manipulate.

A citizen who reads the budget is harder to impress with political speeches.

A citizen who checks project costs is harder to deceive with propaganda.

A citizen who compares election promises with actual results is harder to control through political sentiment.

Organisations such as BudgIT's Tracka demonstrate that citizens can monitor publicly funded projects and report their implementation status. Such initiatives show that accountability does not have to remain the exclusive responsibility of government institutions.

Citizens can participate.

Citizens can investigate.

Citizens can ask questions.

Citizens can demand evidence.

What Should We Celebrate?

Perhaps we should change the question.

Instead of asking only:

"What has this politician done for us?"

we should ask:

"What did the people entrust this government with?"

Then:

"What was promised?"

"What was delivered?"

"What remains unfinished?"

"How much was spent?"

"What value did the people receive?"

This is the kind of thinking that can move citizens from political spectators to active participants in governance.

Government is not a charity organisation.

Public office is not personal property.

Public funds are not private donations.

And citizens should not surrender their right to question those entrusted with their resources simply because a project has been commissioned.

The real measure of leadership is not how loudly citizens can celebrate a project, but how confidently they can demonstrate the value that project has delivered to the public.