Friday, 29th March 2024
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Feeding fat on a hungry people

ALTHOUGH the proposed N8.64 billion wardrobe allowance for National Assembly members over which Nigerians have vehemently cried out is not new, the present economic state of the ordinary Nigerian justifies the virulent criticisms leveled against beneficiaries of the huge sum. Besides, the amount of money in question and the alacrity with which the announcement was…
National Assembly

National Assembly

ALTHOUGH the proposed N8.64 billion wardrobe allowance for National Assembly members over which Nigerians have vehemently cried out is not new, the present economic state of the ordinary Nigerian justifies the virulent criticisms leveled against beneficiaries of the huge sum.

Besides, the amount of money in question and the alacrity with which the announcement was made are a test of how far the anti-corruption preachment of this administration can go in time to come.

For anyone who has been optimistic about this administration’s prospect of transforming Nigeria from its pestilential state of corruption to a virile, accountable, transparent and people-oriented economy, the debate over legislators’ allowances would cause the conclusion that the fight against corruption seems doubtful.

A reason for this is that if the list of sumptuous benefits of the legislators were taken into account, it would seem that the wardrobe allowance is merely a metaphor for obscene perks accruable to the legislators.

Apart from the former, there are also allowances for furniture, housing, vehicles as well as allocation of offices to all 469 federal legislators.

This is apart from zero tenure limit, ample recess period constitutionally stipulated at about half of the year, a phoney selection process of candidates and an internal mechanism that is lax in checking the integrity and moral probity of legislators.

A curious thing about all this is that the allowances are supposedly legal, being backed by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) Act which empowers the commission to fix salaries and allowances of public officers. In spite of their legality, legislators’ salaries and allowances are scandalous and have been regarded with odium.

Former Central Bank governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, for instance, caused a stir not too long ago when he remarked that legislators’ maintenance gulped 25 per cent of the nation’s recurrent expenditure.

Findings from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) claim that the lawmakers appropriate to themselves N150 billion. Unofficial quarters put the annual remuneration of a senator at N1 billion and that of the House of Representatives member as N600 million.

Despite this observation, the pillaging of the economy had gone on wantonly, giving credence to the view that the National Assembly constitutes an infrastructure of corruption.

Though some have described the salaries as reasonable, but when viewed against the paltry N18, 000 minimum wage being owed workers in many states, the legislator’s jumbo pay is scandalous and odious. Furthermore, the productivity of the National Assembly, as gleaned from the activities of its members in recent times, does not or cannot attract the allowances they give themselves even if it is the law.

For instance, shortly before the inauguration of the eighth Assembly, the Senate hurriedly passed bills that the lower house had thoroughly dealt with, thereby questioning the rationale behind a bicameral system when such disconnect exists between the houses. Even if Nigeria has this money, the allowance is immoral.

It is not tenable in the light of the recent revelation about an empty national treasury because this period shows that Nigeria is in dire financial strait. If the legislators are as patriotic as they claim, they should, in solidarity with the low profile state of the economy, be ready to lose much of their perks. This new regime of legislators in the National Assembly must not under-estimate the awareness level of Nigerians, or test their patience by assuming that it is business as usual.

They must understand that this is a different era, one in which Nigerians are more emboldened by the choice they have made; for in the same way the masses reacted against the former administration during the presidential election, in like manner are they prepared to express their discontent and condemnation of any unpopular course of action.

Given the clamour of eminent public commentators and the general public, it is obvious that politicians’ jumbo pay must end. And putting a stop to this depends first, on how the legislators themselves manage their affairs.

Second, it depends on the concert of efforts between the people and the civil society; and lastly, on the RMAFC. Just as the National Assembly is known to harbour unscrupulous, lucre-driven politicians, so also are there men and women who have names to protect and who understand the enormous responsibility placed on them by the people.

These lawmakers should express their moral conviction to ensure that committees are not duplicated. They should take a cue from the United States Congress which has about 22 committees compared to the glut in committees in Nigeria, where the Senate has 58 committees and the House of Representatives has over 300! With this indiscriminate proliferation of committees, every legislator is either a chairman or deputy chairman of a committee.

Moreover, the cost of managing the committees is obscenely high, for it does not make sense to replicate resources already accruable to legislators at the committee level.

This has a management cost that the country cannot afford. In this regard, it is argued that Nigeria does not need a bicameral legislature; rather, what the nation needs is a part-time legislature, one so devoid of the present extravagance and luxury that only genuine nation-builders would stay.

All over the world, right from ancient Rome to enviable democracies of today, the lawmaker is a respected and highly revered personality in the political space. By virtue of his position as the maker of laws guiding man’s relations with the state, he plots the temporal destiny of people.

Through his prodigious engagement with the house on profound matters of socio-economic and political import, and by his sagacious management of crisis between the legislature and the executive, the lawmaker occupies a hallowed position that is desecrated by the opulence and profligacy encouraged by unjustified perquisites.

In climes where the political sagacity of the lawmaker is highly prized, the appellation of ‘Senator’ or ‘Federal legislator’ is a status that the bearer covets with sanctimony.

However, the honour accorded the legislator should not be a licence for dubious silence over fiscal oddity, or turn the legislature into a cash-cow. They should bear in mind that consistent with their legislative functions is the exercise of moral rectitude.

7 Comments

  • Author’s gravatar

    That is why we have never expected much from the house and we still will not expect. Charity they say begins from home.

  • Author’s gravatar

    There is nothing wrong with National Assembly getting pay for what ever they think they are entitle to what is wrong is for the public to know this and refuse to to do any thing about it, to me I Am still confuse why should these set of people be pay that kind of money, they are pay salary then all the allowances, in a country where minimum wage is 18,000 Naira less than $100.00 , these people are the highest paid in the world. I think if something is not done fast, what may happen may not be palatable for the Assembly members because they have puch people against the wall.

  • Author’s gravatar

    Are Nigerians actually hungry? It seems we are not but we
    are an internally agitated lot. A hungry man/woman we are told is an angry
    individual. Nigerians are religious to the point of blame. If you go to heaven
    and failed to see many Nigerians convince yourself that it is a counterfeit one.
    I have built this frame of mind based on numerous deprivations and neglect we
    suffer on daily basis from the hands of our tormentors or torturers (rulers)
    and still overtly we do nothing. Civil society organizations that should
    galvanize the people seem incapable of doing their work but fight over perks
    thrown out to them as Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). The oppressors
    have denied the people the means of rallying the people together. One of which is
    the absence of power. If you have a TV you cannot operate it without power and
    obviously you are disconnected. If you own a handset you cannot operate it because
    the battery is off. If you have a car to move information around, you still have
    to bite your finger because the car tank is empty. You now want to eat but you
    can’t because your purse is empty as a result of being owed months of unpaid salaries.
    Government has a ministry of Works and Housing and Nigerians have no roofs over
    their heads after a lot of money on yearly basis is appropriated to this
    ministry. Nigerian rulers hate the country and its citizens.

    • Author’s gravatar

      Thank you for your effort in writing this great piece. The majority tribes and their tribes men are happy to be called anything as far as they hold on to power. If they feel they cannot win, they recruit the other majority tribe with the hope of sharing the looting together. Take a look at the places they call government offices. My dog MONSTER will never sleep in any of them. But go and see what they do with your money. The types of mansions and high rise they own.

  • Author’s gravatar

    There is no fight against corruption going on in Nigeria. What we have is simply a change of guards, from one set of exploiters to another. Anyone who believes there’s a war against corruption going on is simply gullible.

  • Author’s gravatar

    NIGERIA NEEDS A REVOLUTION AND MASSIVE PROTESTS AT BOTH HOUSES OF ASSEMBLY AND STONE THESE THIEVES AND LOOTERS OUT FROM THE TWO THIEFY HOUSES.

    THEY ARE SIMPLY TREASURY ROBBERS OF THE FIRST ORDER WHILE PENSIONERS AND POOR MASSES ARE DYING DAILY UNATTENDED FOR LACK OF DAILY FOOD, SHELTER AND BASIC MEDICINES.

    DOWN WITH THESE HEARTLESS AND CORRUPT RAT RACE LEGISLATURES.

  • Author’s gravatar

    It is a cultural thing. To some nothing wrong is going on. And to others the atrocities demand redress, so as long as the looters have compassionate pass from majority tribes, Revolution is out of the question. The only answer is for NIGERIANS, I mean the ordinary people to continue to learn and pray for a quick 4 years. Thanks to GEJ for the computer card readers election machines, we mobilise and continue to vote them out until they learn their lesson