The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Legislators

  • We taught legislators how to lobby

    We taught legislators how to lobby

    Keziah Awosika is an activists, friend and partner of late Professor Jadesola Akande at the Women, Law and Development Centre (WLDCN). Yetunde Oladeinde recently ran into the Amazon, at a forum organised by the Group of 6 aka G6, where she spoke on issues around development, challenges of the Millenium Development Goals (MDG’s) as well as what to expect from the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s).

    TELL us, is the gender space changing?

    It is a very great space for gender champions. Men and women who are working together to advance a better future for men and women, boys and girls to think and work together. To look at what they have achieved, where else to look out, what else to do especially around the issues of development framework. For example, we championed the Beijing Platform for Action about 20 years ago. Then it was said that every country would look at 12 critical areas spanning education, health, security and others. The question now, is where are we now? We also need to look at the upcoming Sustainable Development Goals, an offshoot of the MDG’s which would take off from 2016 to 2030. It is about looking at where we are and forward planning.

    What we should do is to mutually reinforce the issues to achieve gender equity. We also need to review the actions and activities taken by our government. It is important to continuously work on the empowerment of women and girls to realise their human rights. So beyond looking at the Beijing critical areas, we also need to advance the post 2015 agenda.

    How would you describe the gender project in Nigeria?

    We are making progress, very slowly. Some states are at it more than others. Lagos State is trying, along with one or two other states. Ekiti did well with Mrs. Bisi Fayemi as the First Lady but I wouldn’t know what the state has done now. Kogi and Rivers states have also done very well too.

    We have so many civil society organisations (CSO’s), NGO’s and CBO’s all over the country today. How would you describe their performance in terms of numbers?

    When we started in 1995, it was a very plain terrain. When you speak about gender, they say Beijing and when you say Beijing, it had to be gender.

    There were quite a few of us but then all this CBO’s and NGO’s came on board. I don’t think they are many and I think that given the number, we should have performed better. I think it is because funds are dwindling.

    Is the challenge basically funding?

    It is partly funding and partly lack of understanding. It is just getting into the vocabulary now, that if you are setting up a committee now, you have to have gender balance. Twenty years ago, nobody was even thinking about it.

    You worked closely with late Professor Jadesola Akande as partner at the Women, Law and Development Centre. What are some of the memorable moments of partnership?

    The most memorable moment for us was teaching the newly elected legislators. That was in 1999, all the legislators that had just come in, especially the female legislators. We taught them how to lobby and what to expect. We also taught them how to read the budget, to intervene in the budget, poverty alleviation and even the constitution. We did all these and to do this was really a defining moment for the women’s movement.

    What has changed?

    Now, we have lots of young and vibrant organisations that have come on board unlike when we started at that point. Funding has become a problem, not just women’s organisations but for the country as a whole and worldwide. You have to have a concrete and credible proposal.

    How would you describe the performance of our legislators especially women?

    They are coming down. 2007 was the highest point for them and it has been coming down. In the past, you had about four women in the National Assembly. Now, we have only one, which is Senator Oluremi Tinubu. I believe that the problem is at the party level; they are not bringing the women on board. The problem is tokenism; most times they say that you can take the form free; but at the primaries, they would now turn it down. The truth is that you do not have an edge over someone who has paid millions.

    Do you think what we need is Affirmative Action?

    We cannot do it through Affirmative Action alone. The women themselves have to be convinced. For instance, if you take a look at the Lagos State House of Assembly, there were about eight women before, now they have dwindled to four. We are dwindling women’s rights, it’s coming down and we must do something to arrest it.

    So what can the women do?

    Yes, we need more of Affirmative Action, more of noise making and we need advocacy. For example, in the last election, there was very little money voted for voter education. In the past, Professor Jadesola and I went to the market; we went to the professionals and everywhere. We told the women that they must vote and be voted for. In spite of the many CBO’s and NGO’s that you have now; there was very little voter education.

    What do you miss about your friend and partner, late Professor Jadesola Akande ?

    Everything! In fact, I miss her so much. If you look at the April 29th tribute that I wrote, I said she would have been on top of the political campaign, if she was alive.

    How did she touch your life?

    We have been friends all along. We went to the same school; she was just a year my senior at St Anne’s, Ibadan. We both went to Oxford, where she was three years ahead of me and we did our PhD together.

    What advice do you have for the younger generation in the sector?

    They must not see NGO work as if it is rivalry work. They must work together for emancipation; they must not see it in terms of who is doing more. We must work closely together, have a focus and they would begin to take us seriously.

  • Legislators’ pay and other matters

    Renewed public interest in the salaries and allowances of lawmakers and political office holders should not be surprising. With the grim state of the nation’s economy; mounting arrears of salaries by governments and high cost of governance, it is difficult for the seemingly huge pay of legislators and other political office holders to continue to evade the prying eyes of the public.

    This interest is not entirely new. It was a subject of heated debate around 2013. Then, there arose public outcry against the wide gulf between what was seen as the jumbo pay of federal legislators, vis-à-vis extant wage regime in the country.  The actual pay of the lawmakers generated so much speculation that the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) had to come out with the schedule of salaries and allowances of members. Even with that, their actual salaries and allowances have since remained a highly misunderstood issue, often leading to opaque interpretations.

    According to that schedule, the annual salaries and allowances of a senator amounted to N12.9 million. This is in addition to N24 million paid once in their tenure of four years. In this category fall such items as car loan, housing loan, terminal benefits etc.

    For a member of the House of Representatives, his annual salaries and allowances amounted to N9.5 million in addition to N23.8 million paid once in four years for other loans and benefits.

    With the change of government and dwindling national revenue resulting in backlog of salaries; it did not take time before the matter resurfaced. It has resurged with such momentum and frenzy that the impression now gaining ground is that the cut is a major step towards plugging the drain in our national revenue chain.

    Not unexpectedly, governments, persons and institutions have bought into the idea as given fillip by emerging reactions to it. Central to all these, is the impression that by slashing these salaries and allowances, more money would be freed for national development. Kano State Governor Abdullahi Gunduje took the lead by slashing the salaries and allowances of political appointees by 50 per cent ostensibly to enable the state get enough funds for development. Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State placed himself on half salary and cut his travelling allowances by 50 per cent until salaries and allowance owed workers are paid.

    This is as the RMAFC has set up a committee to begin a downward review of salaries and allowances for political, public and judicial office holders. The bug seems to have caught up with everybody with the outlawed Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta MEND threatening to resume hostilities should members of the National Assembly refuse to reduce the huge salaries and allowances that accrue to them. As if responding to this threat, the Senate has also floated a committee to arrive at the same purpose.

    All these concerns can be understood given their convergence on the common ground that we need to make some sacrifice for the country to come out of the woods. If these stem from genuine concerns for attitudinal change in the way our citizens hitherto conceived affairs of the public realm, this would amount to significant progress.

    Before now, the tendency was to fleece and impoverish the government for the benefit of the individual and his primordial unit. That has been the basis for the unmitigated corruption that virtually brought this nation to its knees. Political offices are seen as avenues for self-enrichment rather than service to the humanity.

    If emerging concerns for behavioural shift represent real commitment to prudence, selfless services and patriotism, then we have every reason to hope there will be light at the end of the tunnel. There is a glimmer of hope that we are beginning to enthrone a common bound of selfless services.

    That should be something to cheer.

    No doubt, a reduction in salaries and allowances in the proportion that has been proposed, will free some fund for the development of the states and the nation as the case may be. But it remains to be imagined the positive difference it will make in our overall national development matrix given the figures above.

    It is not certain what constitutes the salaries and allowances of political office holders in the states. But if my little stint in that capacity some years back is any thing to go by, not much savings would be made out of such salary cuts. It will even result in the negative by impoverishing the appointees thereby laying them vulnerable to thievery in the most daring manner. The effect will turn out counterproductive. It would appear the entire idea is propelled more by political expediency rather than sound economic calculations. They promise very little in their overall contributions to the economic health of governments both state and federal.

    But like ever Nigerian thing, every body has bought into the frenzy and wants to make political capital of it. The key thing is that all manner of groups want these salaries and allowances reduced. Once that has been achieved, its teleological purpose has been served. And nothing more!

    More fundamentally, all the noise about pay cut is premised on the flawed thinking they constitute the real avenues for fleecing the nation. One is afraid this view is a highly misplaced one. It cannot stand the weight of evidence in the face of the stupendous wealth lawmakers and political office-holders are known be flaunting around town. They cannot account for the scandalous display of opulence by legislators and political office holders in and out of office.

    They count for little in terms of the funds to run elections in many parts of the country. Worries have been expressed on why people still seek legislative offices in the face of the prohibitive cost of running elections. In some states, it runs into billions to run for a senatorial seat. What is the fraction of the salaries and allowances of a senator to N1billion for instance, to expect it is the main source of recouping his electoral investments?

    It amounts to chasing shadows to nurse the feeling that these salaries and allowances are the real avenues for fleecing the government. They only constitute legitimate and known sources. Nothing has been said of the illegitimate and unknown sources. These are the areas the prying eyes of a government of change should focus. There is so much corruption in the exercise of legislators’ oversight functions. President Buhari captured it succinctly when he spoke of financial recklessness and lack of accountability due to the official abandonment of all financial and administrative instructions in parastatals and agencies. All these avenues must be plugged for real progress to be made.

    But then, the larger public must queue into this change mantra for it to be meaningful. Much of those making noise about jumbo pay, are the same people that at every level of the electoral process, ask for money before discharging their civic duties. You cannot take money in lieu of your votes or support and expect sanity from the system. The sacrifice expected of lawmakers can only endure if there is positive and permanent change of attitude on electoral matters from the larger society.

     

  • Jumbo pay: Pity our legislators

    SIR: Almost a year ago, I was at the residence of a Senator who had come home to commission some of his constituency projects. I was in his house to invite him to an outreach programme to educate the general public on the immense health benefits inherent in brushing their teeth before going to bed. On getting to his there, I was asked by one of his personal assistants to pick a number, so they could call on me when it’s my turn. I was told the last number was 426, so I was supposed to pick the 427th number.  From my later enquiry, the 426 people I had met there were all there to collect their ramadhan/sallah gift, discuss their financial problems and collect their share of the national cake. Hence, the reason why the assistants to the senator, who had thought that I had also come for the same reason, insisted that I follow due process by picking the next available number. This is the reality of getting elected into political office in Nigeria. People expect you to come home and share money.

    The legislature has come under intense criticism over their take home pay and huge budgetary allocation at a time the country is passing through hard times.  Some of the allowances the lawmakers are entitled to include, Personal Assistance (25% of basic salary), Vehicle Maintenance (75% of basic salary), Leave Allowance (10% of Basic salary), Gratuity (300% of basic salary), Car Allowance (400% of basic) among other allowances like furniture and newspaper allowances etc. Most of these allowances have been there since our return to democracy in 1999. What is however new is the general condemnation and criticism that this has generated in the recent days as if Nigerians weren’t aware that Senators and members of the House of Representative of the 5th, 6th and 7th Assembly also received these outrageous allowances and budgetary allocation.

    Like Oliver Twist, our legislators will continue to ask for money to enable them have more than enough to share to their people, since this is the only way they can retain their seats. We need to change our mentality of placing our financial burden on the shoulders of the legislators before asking them to cut down on their pay. Our attitude is the reason why lawmakers and indeed all political office holders usually go to the length of dipping their hands into the national treasury just to have enough money to share. So, before we ask for a slash in salary, allowances and budgetary allocation to lawmakers, are we also ready to stop demanding Ramadhan, Sallah, Easter and Christmas gifts from them?

     

    • Hussain Obaro,

    Ilorin, Kwara State

     

  • As apc legislators defy their party

    Last week, the All Progressives Congress (APC) was given a bloody nose by some of her members, elected into the national assembly. The bout was the election of principal officers of the two chambers. While the party which is in the majority in the two chambers, had done everything it could, to go into the context for the President of Senate and the Speaker ofHouse of Representatives with a united front, some legislators elected on that platform, openly defied the party; and eventually had their way. To succeed, the defiant APC members went into an ad-hoc alliance with the opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The outcome saw the election of Senator Bukola Saraki of APC, as the Senate President, and Senator Ike Ekweremadu of the PDP, as the deputy Senate President. At the lower chamber, Hon.Yakubu Dogara emerged as the Speaker, with Hon. Suilema nLasun Yusuff as the deputy Speaker, both from APC. The open defiance of the party, by the emergent principal officers, has been hailed by the opposition and touted as democracy in action, by those who saw the party’s interference as meddlesomeness. On the other hand, the APC apparatchik,festers in consternation and confusion, over how to deal with the successful coup.

    In excitement, many commentators are more interested about which of the party leaders have had his or her ego bruised, having lost the plot; butsubstantially failed to appreciate that the ordinary Nigerians, who had voted for a change in the way and manner Nigeria is governed, may be the real losers, when the dogfight starts. Some have even argued that the successful revolt by a minority of the legislators, elected on the platform of the APC; first against their colleagues on the same platform, and also against their political party and its leadership, is democracy in action.Well, they have a point; but what about the gross party indiscipline, and its reverberations.

    Of note, what happened in the national assembly last week, is only good for the opposition party, the PDP, and they deserve to celebrate their success. After all, having lost this yeaer’s general elections, the PDP has every right to plan how to win the 2019 elections. To win in 2019, PDP is entitled to ensure that APC fails, and if it is possible, that the failure should be so spectacular that Nigerians would rue giving the party a chance, in the last election. But it is short-sightedness, to say that what took place was good for APC or even the ordinary Nigerians. Indeed, even the winners would join as losers, unless they change their party; when the chicken come home to roost.

    This column’s main concern is for the ordinary Nigerians, who had invested hope in the new government, as the solution to the myriad of their problems. Unless a miracle happens, the leadership of the two chambers of the national assembly would spend several months ahead, fighting-off, real and imaginary enemies. In such circumstance, the leadership of the National Assembly may concentrate their energy in making deals, granting concessions, and arrangingfavours for survival, and may have little or no time for makinglaws to impact the general welfare ofthe ordinary Nigerians.

    As the Igbo say, onyeokunaagbanaunoya, a dighiachuoke. Literally interpreted, ‘a person whose house is on fire, dose not chase rat’. In the coming years, the context for the control or destruction of APC would likely become a national emergency, with all its implications for the new government and the country. With a minority group in the party, successfully hoisting their preferred candidates in the legislative chambers, and taking over that important arm of the democratic tripod, the other party members now outmanoeuvred,may return to the trenches, for either a fight-to-win or a fight-to-destroy.

    Many have predicted that the leadership coup in the National Assembly, would result in a re-alliance that would benefit democracy, on the premise that god-fatherism has been given a deadly blow. The protagonists of this position substantially have Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, one of the foremost leadersof the party in view, in making that assertion. Their excitement is because the Jagaban, as the man is also known as, had visibly supported the candidates that lost. While the winners are entitled to their feast, this column is unable to see what happened as the death of god-fatherism, considering that the people that won, also had their god-father supporters.

    But even more importantly, while the Nigerian type of god-fatherism must be deprecated, especially the type for whom, self-aggrandisement, is the sole purpose of political participation, it is unrealistic to hope for its extinction. After all, the political god-father should be a mere political-mentor. And as in other spheres of life, without a mentor, the neophyte would have to learn the ropes all by himself. The problem, which we side-step, is the lack of strong independent institutions that should, wagewar against corruption, protect a fair national economy, provide security of lives and property, protect the national geographical integrity, and solve other myriad manifestations of our debilitating under-development.

    So, the successful revolt at the National Assembly, only makes it more difficult for the new APC government, to successfully resolve some of ournational challenges. In fairness, this column had a few weeks ago, argued that it was impossible for President Buhari to intervene in the National Assembly leadership election, without consequences. What was not envisaged, was that majority of APC members would prefer an outcome that would fail. With this crisis, we hope the divergent tendencies in the party, would notseek their various tents, as the then disgruntled children of Israel.

     

  • Legislators push for Pension Reform Act’s implementation

    Legislators push for Pension Reform Act’s implementation

     The National Assembly is pushing for the full implementation of the Pension Reform Act, 2014 to ensure that retirees under the Defined Benefits Scheme enjoy the same comfort in retirement with that of their counterparts under the  Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), writes Omobola Tolu-Kusimo

    Workers across the world are taking more than a passing interest in what befalls them when they retire.

    In Nigeria, the story is not different. Though the country has crossed a milestone in reforming its pension system, much more still needs to be done in terms of implementating the new pension law, the Pension Reform Act 2014.

    The National Assembly says consolidating the gains of pension reform in the country will require full implementation of the enabling law, urging its action to ensure that retirees under the Defined Benefits Scheme (DBS) and the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) enjoy comfort in retirement.

    They also believe that the implementation of the law will ensure that never again will retirees, who have served their fatherland meritoriously, roam the streets begging for alms.

    The ongoing pension reform in Nigeria started with the enactment  Act which established the National Pension Commission (PenCom) and the CPS.  That became necessary because the DBS was not fully funded by governments across the country.  Relief came the way of retirees under the old scheme in 2013 when the Federal Government reformed the DBS with the establishment of the Pension Transitional Arrangements Directorate (PTAD).

    One year after PTAD was established, the Pension Reform Act, 2014 was enacted to repeal and replace the 2004 Act.  The new law gave PenCom regulatory roles over PTAD and further strengthened the latter to deliver on its mandate of ensuring that pensioners under the DBS get their pensions as at when due.

     

    In the beginning

    Before the establishment of PTAD, the Federal Government had set up the Pension Reform Task Force, headed by Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina, to reform the DBS.  Members of the task force were later alleged to have helped themselves from the money meant to pay pensioners to the tune of billions of naira while many of retirees died in poverty.

    The allegations led to the sack of the task force and their job became a subject of investigation by the Seventh National Assembly.  Revelations of massive fraud perpetrated by the members of the team were unearthed even as Maina was said to have shunned invitation by the legislators to come and clear his name.

    Just lately, Maina and some members of his team, now answering fraud charges at various law courts, began sponsoring intensive media campaigns to disparage the revelations made by the National Assembly and showcase some unconfirmed achievements recorded by the team in an attempt to convince the President Muhammad Buhari to reinstate them.

    However, giving vivid details of the discoveries of the Senate Committee on States and Local Governments in the Seventh National Assembly, its Chairman, Senator Kabiru Gaya, observed that prior to pension reform in the country, government found it extremely difficult to address the issue of pensioners roaming the streets of major cities begging for alms as a result of non-payment of their pension or negligence on the part of those coordinating the pension system.

    Addressing participants at the just-concluded Stakeholders Sensitisation Conference on the Pension Reform Act  in Abuja, Senator Gaya recalled that under the DBS, many retirees died because of delay or refusal of government to pay their pension while negligence on the part of those who managed pension fund contributed to the plight of retirees under the old scheme.

    “The Defined Benefits Scheme caused death of retirees because their pension were either delayed or not paid at all for a long period as a result of corruption.  The introduction of the Contributory Pension Scheme will reduce corruption to the barest minimum if not erase it and stiffer laws and penalties should be looked into,” he said.

    Reflecting on “Consolidating the Gains of Pension Reform in Nigeria,” Gaya painted a gloomy picture of the DBS prior to the establishment of PTAD in 2013. According to him, the scheme was plagued by “lack of funding, insufficient budgetary provisions, mismanagement, maladministration, inadequate legal framework and constant death of retirees while awaiting their entitlements and high corruption” among other things.

    Also, giving an insight into the findings of the National Assembly Investigative Panel on Pension, he said pensioners found it difficult to get their entitlements.

    “Some of our members cried when they saw the pains these pensioners were going through.  Some of them have gone mental because they were asking for the claims and they could not get them and some of the people handling pension fund were having good time and good foods on their tables.  I personally assisted one of them financially because he was telling us several things as if we were the civil servants that failed to pay their pension.

    “During our investigations, we found that money was kept in banks for years and pensioners were not being paid.  One organisation paid N5 billion while it had N21 billion in its purse kept in banks generating interest while it refused to pay pensioners,” he said.

    He also stated some of the challenges the National Assembly surmounted in the course of making the pension laws saying “during our pension probe we had situations where some members of the Task Force became forces that we cannot fight.When we collated the report for the Chairman of the task force and members of his team to account for N195 billion, we invited him but he refused to appear.”

     

    Legislators’ effort

    Members of the National Assembly observed that with the establishment of PTAD, the gory tales they inundated with is now a thing of the past.  The Directorate is working very hard to bring back smiles to the faces of pensioners under the DBS.  The law makers also noted that to sustain the successes so far recorded with the old scheme, there is need to further strengthen PTAD by fully implementing the new pension law.

    Assuring PenCom of the support of the National Assembly in implementing the Pension Reform Act 2014 fully to meet the expectation of workers and retirees in the country,  Gaya recalled that the lawmakers had in the past made useful recommendations towards the successful reform of the pension industry and would support PenCom and other pension stakeholders to continue delivering on its mandates.

    “That is why we made about 122 recommendations to the Senate which include that funds should be in the custody of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) not in commercial banks and that those already in commercial banks should be returned to CBN. I want to assure you that the National Assembly is ever supportive of  strengthening of this Act to alleviate the sufferings of our elder statesmen,” Gaya said.

    He also encouraged stakeholders in the pension industry to uphold best practice in the administration of retirement benefit fund in the country saying “PenCom, PTAD and all others should be diligent, prompt, transparent, honest and sincere in their days of service because they are also close to the net.

    “For us to move forward in this country, we have to fight corruption.  We have to be sincere in our jobs and for those who steal so much, once you cross a certain level all the money you accumulate is a waste.”

    The Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Pension, Hon. Samson Okwu in the Seventh Assembly also supported Gaya on the need to fully implement the new pension law.  Speaking during a Stakeholders Sensitisation Conference in Abuja, he encouraged pension stakeholders to fashion out ways to fully implement the new pension law to ensure that self-employed people and workers in the informal sector are brought under the CPS.

    He said: “I charge professionals to look into the law and system such that we can give guarantees to contributors.  Your contributions will pave the way for us to learn how all Nigerians can key into the system such that we will have a guaranty of savings for all Nigerians such that even the welder by the road side can be part of the scheme.

    “The Eighth National Assembly will partner the industry and we will work together to make the pension system better.”

    Justifying their push for full implementation of the law, the legislators observed the CPS is working perfectly and according to plans.  The scheme, is fully funded and retirees under it are getting their pension as at when due. There has not been any case of fraud or corruption in the system from inception, they said.

    The legislators however, noted that the only way to ensure that the gains so far made with the DBS will not be reverse is to fully implement the Pension Reform Act, 2014.  This will also ensure that situations where fund managers under the old scheme come in contact with pensioners’ money and may be tempted to divert or mismanage will be completely avoided.  The era where managers of the scheme deposit pensioners’ money to earn interest while pensioners wallow in abject poverty will be gone for good with the full implementation of the new pension law, they maintained.

    According to the law makers, for the DBS to succeed, it is important to further strengthen PTAD and ensure that the CBN continue to keep custody of all the money meant for pensioners under the DBS and pensioners’ entitlements continue to be transferred directly to their bank accounts from the apex bank after verification.  They want retirees under the old scheme to enjoy good life in retirement as much as their colleagues under the CPS, insisting that it is only the full implementation of the new pension law that will make all these possible.

     

    PTAD

    Established August 2013 in line with provision of Section 30(2) (a) of the Pension Reform Act, 2004 and now Section 42(1) of the Pension Reform Act 2014, the PTAD took over the management of the Defined Benefits pension schemes of federal parastatals and agencies and has been implementing a new structure, which is a clear departure from the old system and also introduced a new orientation to service delivery to meet the needs of pensioners.

    The pension law directed directors of the Civil Service Pension Department, Police Pension Department and Customs, Immigration and Prisons Pension Department to report to the Executive Secretary of the Directorate.  Also, all the Boards of Trustees of pension schemes being operated by FGN parastatals report to PTAD.

    PTAD Director-General, Nellie Mayshack, said the agency however prides itself as “progressively working hard” to sanitise the pension administration system and restore public confidence through effective management, accountability and transparency and alleviating the sufferings of pensioners through regular and prompt payments, constant communication and easily accessible to by retirees.

    The directorate also said it is improving service delivery to pensioners, ensuring effective planning and management of pension under the DBS and ensuring transparency and accountability in the management of pension funds while restoring confidence and trust in the system.

  • ‘Let legislators choose their leaders’

    The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), has urged the All Progressives Congress (APC) to allow legislators to choose their leaders in a democratic manner.

    In a statement signed by NANS’ President, Tijani Usman, yesterday, NANS said the legislators should be given a free hand to decide those with impeccable credentials to lead the National Assembly.

    “Nigerians are in a hurry to witness the change promised by the APC. The party should not allow itself to be entangled in issues that do not portend well for the polity.

    “The party must desist from trying to have overbearing influence on the legislature, including choosing its leaders.

    “Allow Senators and Members of the House of Representatives to elect their leaders in a free and transparent process.

    “Agreed, the APC is the majority, but other political parties also have a say in who emerges. Therefore, let the process be devoid of interference from political parties’’, the statement said.

     

  • Don urges in-coming legislators to revolutionise agric

    A former Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ilorin, Prof Abiodun Adeloye, has advised incoming members of the National Assembly to work with the Federal Government to ensure the agriculture sector is a leader in providing high quality food in the future.

    He said it is crucial that everyone works together in the quest for self-sufficiency in food production.

    He said the new government should come to power with a detailed and positive agenda for agriculture, to make the sector more dynamic, competitive and effective to address  areas such as improving foreign direct investment, enhancing farmers’ ability to tackle animal and plant health, building safe and secure food chains.

    Adeloye observed that there was a need  to  reverse long- term declines in farming productivity.

    He urged lawmakers to develop a blueprint for future agriculture policy as many farmers are feeling the squeeze of higher production costs.

    Suggestions include additional money for research and marketing for value-added products, innovation, development and extension, competitiveness and market access.

    Adeloye,who  is the Coordinator WAAPP Nigeria projects at the university, said the sector would need a large  funding,and  that issues affecting the competitiveness of the agricultural sector, within the country should be singled out for an overhaul.

    He called on the government to address issues around the cost of doing agro business, regulation, access to capital and critical infrastructure improvements.

    He urged the National Assembly to be proactive in engaging with Nigerians to find out what they think about agriculture, what their values are, regarding food production, and to proactively attempt to build better and more constructive relationships with community and activist groups, including those who are currently campaigning against the programmes  of the  sector.

    According to him, achieving food security  requires  a commitment by leaders in all sectors to ensure  a sustained and focused effort to end hunger.

  • Memo to legislators

    Dear legislator,

    “Let there become of you a nation that shall call for righteousness, enjoin justice and forbid evil. Such men shall surely triumph”. Q. 3: 104.

     Let me start this letter with a congratulatory message and a prayer. I congratulate you for becoming our ‘Honourable’ lawmakers an organ that is most crucial in a democracy. With your legislative role the destiny of Nigeria will be determined or reshaped. But more importantly, I pray the Almighty God to grant you listening ears and tamed minds against greed and avarice that became the undoing of your predecessors. Amen.

    Just as it happened to the session before yours, this letter is coming to you both as a counsel and an admonition. What qualifies this column (The Message) for writing it is that like you, ‘The Message’ is a stake holder in the great project called Nigeria. This country is like a ship in which we are all voyaging together. And we must all be vigilant enough to ensure that the ship conveying us does not hit the rock.

    A similar letter was twice written in this column to the legislators of the sixth and seventh National Assembly. The first was in 2008 barely nine months after some of them resumed in their respective legislative houses. The second was a reminder in 2012. But like a dog destined to end up in perdition would not hear the hunter’s cautioning whistle, they refused to heed the admonition contained in those letters. You all know the consequence of their refusal today.

     

    Role of conscience

    “Conscience”, according to Sheikh Uthman Dan Fodio, “is an open wound which only the truth can heal”. But one can talk of healing a wounded conscience only where it has not become cancerous. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) told us in one Hadith that hypocrites are known by three signs: “When they talk they lie; when they promise they renege and when they are trusted they betray”. Most of your predecessors so much typify that Hadith as if the Prophet had Nigerian legislators in mind when he expressed that axiom. I hope you learn a lesson from their case.

    You will recall that when you started nursing the ambition to become legislators, whether at the federal or state level, or even as chairmen or councillors in local governments, your first announcement was that you wanted ‘to serve your people’. Based on that announcement, people rallied round you and embraced you as their representatives.

    That announcement was your first political covenant. It was not between you and the people in your constituency alone. Since it entailed your promise and the trust of the people, Allah’s hand was in it and He will surely hold you accountable for it because you made such promise voluntarily. It does not matter whether you were genuinely elected or rigged into office thereafter usual.

     

    Deception

    Your original intension for making the announcement will be weighed against your action on getting to office. And you will be judged accordingly when you leave the office. That is quite different from a possible rigging that fetched you the status of a legislator as well as the title of ‘Honourable’.

    In the process, some of you deprived your fellow politicians of those positions which rightfully belong to them. Just as you will call on God for justice if you were in their shoes so they will take your case to God’s court. And the prayer of a cheated person, according to Prophet Muhammad (SAW), never suffers divine denial.

    You must remember that it is only God’s judgment that can neither be manipulated nor appealed. And no matter how long it may take, Allah’s judgment will be executed perhaps when you least expect. On that, you are left to your conscience if you have one.

    In Islam, two issues are exceptionally fundamental which Allah does not treat lightly. These are sacredness of life and justice. It is a great iniquity for any human being to engage in murder and injustice under any guise. Thus, anybody who kills fellow human beings extra-judicially in the name of religion is nothing but a pagan. In Islam, killing of a fellow human being deliberately is such a grievous sacrilege that cannot and should not occur without commensurate punishment.

    Besides paganism, nothing draws the wrath of Allah as fast as these two crimes which Satan may continue to ask you to ignore at your own peril.

    Murder is physical termination of the life of a fellow human being. Injustice is to kill a person mentally, psychologically and spiritually by denying him his right.

    In Islam, rule of law is the foundation of justice but legislation is the material with which that foundation is built. Those who voluntarily chose to legislate for others must see themselves as the foundation layers of justice who should not, advertently or inadvertently, betray the course of justice. Can this be said of you?

     

    Where is your Honour?

    Honourable legislators, you are addressed as honourable today neither because you are more qualified intellectually than those for whom you are legislating nor because you are wiser and more experienced than them. What makes most of you legislators is sheer expediency arising from queer inadequacies sadly fostered by our so-called political system which has not been perfected against gerrymandering.

    If such opportunity comes your way illegally, let it not be mistaken for good luck. It may rather be a calamity waiting to strike in future. And when it strikes, no one except Allah can tell the extent of its effect.

    At least you can see how the consequences of the heartless annulment of June 12, 1993 Presidential election have become a draconian spectre chasing the ghost of Nigeria even after two decades of licking the wound.

    That covenant is to serve them (the people). And those who serve are nothing but servants. But no sooner had your predecessors been sworn into office than they started calling themselves leaders. That is why most of them found it difficult to bend a little backwards and report back to their constituencies. Today, where are they? And their constituencies remain intact albeit backward.

     

    Surrogate spouses

    Since most of your predecessors resumed in Abuja or their state capitals without their spouses, the first thing they did after settling down was to search for alternative but illegitimate sexual partners who acted as their surrogate spouses. And the cost was borne by the same betrayed electorate. Not only that, they also began their primary duty of legislating by first fixing their own salaries and allowances against all norms of morality and at the expense of those who made it possible for them to become legislators.

    You turned the privilege of legislating into a right and used it to intimidate the poor masses and ride roughshod over them. When they occasionally pretend to interact with those masses it was for the purpose of preparing their minds for the next election in which they hoped to be returned to Parliament where sharing money was the priority.

    Some of them spent about eight years in those legislative houses without any sign in their immediate constituencies that anybody was representing the people of those constituencies. It is hoped that your session in this era of ‘CHANGE’ will show a remarkable difference.

    Self Aggrandisement

    When your predecessors travelled abroad officially, with people’s money, they were never alarmed by the way political and economic systems worked in those countries. Rather, their primary concern was the latest cars plying the roads of those countries and the most magnificent mansions that they could copy back home to match new status as legislators. That is why virtually every political office holder in Nigeria between 1999 and 2015 was either riding or eager to ride the newest vehicle from Europe, America or Asia even as they owned Nigeria’s choicest estates. In a nutshell, politics to them was a short term business that must bring profit by all means.

    Thus, at their instance, Nigeria was held to a standstill as they doctored the annual budget presented to them by the executive arm in order to share the national cake with the Executives in the spirit of ‘rub my back I rub yours’.

    Most of them were fathers and mothers who would want their children to grow up as responsible men and women, yet, refused to serve as good examples for those children. How could Nigeria be good?

     

    Reminder

    As new legislators, perhaps it is necessary to remind you that everything in this world is based on condition. The world itself did not come into existence without condition. Man was originally created and appointed as Allah’s vicegerent of Allah on earth on condition that he would serve Allah. And all other living or unloving things were divinely ordered to obey and serve man on condition that he (man) would also obey and serve Allah. That service was not an imposition. It was voluntary.

    Before putting man in charge of the world at all, Allah had consulted far and wide with all the stake holders concerned. Each of them declined responsibility except man who, out of greed and arrogance, volunteered to take charge and be responsible for it.

    Allah states this clearly in Q. 33 V. 72 thus: “We offered the ‘TRUST’ (of the world) to the heavens; to the earth and to the mountains; but they refused to bear it and were afraid of it. Man, who undertook to bear it, has proved to be unjust, foolish”.

    By consulting so far and wide, Allah had elicited and got covenant from every creature. Those among them, that declined responsibility cannot and will not be asked to account for the occurrences therein. Accountability of the world solely rests on man’s shoulder according to the covenant he reached voluntarily with Allah.

    Covenant with Allah is the most fundamental law of existence. It is not one sided. As man has responsibilities to bear so does Allah has obligations to fulfil. It is from the covenant with Allah that all other covenants in the life of man, including those of marriage, trust and confidentiality, are derived. That covenant is what others call oath.

     

    Oath of office

    In Islam, oath, whether private or public, does not necessarily require Muslims to carry the Qur’an in one’s hand as done in Nigeria particularly at this time when oath of office has become a meaningless symbol. No oath is ever made without Allah being a witness to it. Besides, He has assigned two Angels (Raqib and ‘Atid) to every human being as secret police officers. The duty of these Angels is to record all utterances and secret actions of each person to whom they are assigned. The one records good deeds, the other records evil deeds. Their recordings are both in video and audio forms.

    This fact is contained in Q.50: 16 where Allah states that: “We surely created man and ‘We’ know the promptings of his mind and are closer to him than his jugular vein. We assign two guardians to watch him, one on his right and the other on his left. No utterance (from him) or action shall escape the records of these vigilant guardians….”

    It is from the functions of these invisible police that researchers  came about the idea of video, audio and other technological devices used especially for espionage.

     

    Rare opportunity

    Legislating is a rare opportunity to serve one’s nation meritoriously. But most of your predecessors turned that opportunity into one of self-enrichment as well as that of securing the future of your own children at the expense of the lives of other children. All these are done at the expense of the wretched people around them whose role in democracy was relegated to voting once in four years. They forgot that wealth is Allah’s endowment which cannot be inherited except by Allah’s will.

    My dear honourable legislators; search your conscience and fear God. Remember that some people had legislated for this country in the past. Some usurped the roles of the executive, the legislature and the judiciary together, in the name of military rule, made possible by coup d’état. Where are they today?

    Legislation, like governance, has its tenure. Today, four years may look endless, but for the wise, it is not more than a flash of lightening  which only a fool may want to rely upon while walking his way through the darkness of the night.

     

    Peculiar factor

    You are in the legislative houses to make laws for today’s generation and that of tomorrow. Ordinarily, that duty should be on part time and not full time basis in a serious country where patriotism holds sway. But since everything in Nigeria has a peculiar factor, it has become a rule that those who are legislating for us must take the lion’s share of our national cake even through the budget. That is why your predecessors randomly roared to the total embarrassment of the country that the President or the Governor must be impeached.

    Such impeachment became a serious business only when their salaries, allowances or social welfare were not provided as at when due or at the expected volume. It did not matter to them whether or not the entire workforce in Nigeria remained unpaid for years or all the Universities in the country closed down completely and permanently. And in all these charades, religion had no role to play an indication that politics is indifferent to God’s ordinances in Nigeria.

    Conscience, though invisible, has a mirror which only a few people know of. That mirror is shame. A person without shame is a person without conscience. And that is the main distinction between a genuine Muslim and a nominal one. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) admonished thus in respect of shame: “once you are bereft of shame, you can go ahead to do whatever you like”. This means that without shame you are such a nonentity that can even choose to strip naked in the market place. That was some of your predecessors did while in office.

     

    Service to humanity

    Honourable legislators, let it be kept permanently in your hearts that the only thing which keeps people alive in history even long after their demise is service to humanity. Prophets Isa (Jesus), and Muhammad (SAW), had neither bank accounts nor estates to bequeath to anybody. Their heritage is more than any material wealth for the entire world today. That heritage is service to humanity. What is your own planned heritage if only for posterity? That is a big question which only people with conscience can answer. The rest is left to you. While wishing you a memorable era in in Nigeria’s democracy, I pray Allah to guide you aright that you may not end up like your predecessors. Amin.

  • Impeachment crisis: Ekiti Obas call for peace

    Impeachment crisis: Ekiti Obas call for peace

    The Ekiti State Council of Traditional Rulers has urged parties locked in the raging impeachment crisis to sheathe their swords and allow peace to reign.

    The monarchs have scheduled an emergency meeting for Thursday to deliberate on the political situation in the state with a view to finding solution to the crisis.

    The Chairman of the Obas’ Council, Oba Adamo Babalola, warned against resort to violence urging any aggrieved party to approach the court for redress.

    Babalola who is also the Onitaji of Itaji-Ekiti in Oye Local Government Area revealed that several attempts had been made in the past to resolve the House of Assembly crisis without success which necessitated the latest move.

    He said: “We have been told the runaway legislators are coming back to Ekiti State and that impeachment notice has been served.

    “I don’t know whether that is true, but we need to give peace a chance and allow the Obas to come in deliberate on the matter.

    “We have made attempts severally to settle the dispute between the executive and legislative arms. The legislators did not answer us.

    “I don’t know why coming to Ekiti should involve impeachment. We will hold a meeting on Thursday to deliberate on the matter.

    “People should maintain peace and people should not be disallowed from doing their businesses. The court is there for adjudication and we should make use of that.”

  • 7 legislators withdraw from impeachment plot against Elechi

    7 legislators withdraw from impeachment plot against Elechi

    The ongoing impeachment proceedings of Governor Martin Elechi of Ebonyi state has hit the rocks.

    Seven out of the 15 legislators that signed the impeachment notice have backed out of the process. The seven, called themselves the Integrity Group of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly.

    They were led by the Minority Leader in the House, Hon. Enyi C Enyi of All Progressives Congress (APC) and representing Ezza North West Constituency.

    Enyi who addressed a press conference in Enugu Tuesday said: “Our resolution is simply that we have unequivocally withdrawn from any further involvement in the impeachment moves against the governor of Ebonyi state, Chief Martin Elechi.”

    He said the decision of the seven of them to withdraw from the impeachment plot was informed by far reaching consultations within and outside their constituencies.

    “We were also touched by the deep political counseling from our leaders and elders, which indicated that the long term demerits of the action would surpass whatever short term merits it may present.

    “Most importantly we were alarmed at the discovery that the impeachment, if consummated, would spew deep political bad blood and dichotomy between the two political blocs in the state – Abakaliki and Afikpo,” the minority leader explained.

    Enyi said they also realized that if the impeachment was pursued to its logical end, each member of the Ebonyi state House of Assembly would wear the stigma and badge of dishonor as the lawmakers that impeached their governor and the first set of legislators to impeach a sitting governor in the South East geopolitical zone.

    He said: “Those of us in the Integrity Group are not prepared to earn any stigma that could outlive our tenures and political careers and even affect our children.”

    He disclosed that the plan to impeach the governor was hatched last year but to be delayed until recently, adding that they were of the opinion that the impeachment had become belated “and should remain dead and buried forever.”

    The Integrity Group members, however, made some plea to Governor Elechi.

    According to them: “It is time Chief Elechi gathers everybody together irrespective of party affiliation, religion, social idiosyncrasies, language, culture or zone.

    “This is a time for him for him to renew the state on the path of peace and genuine reconciliation. He should consider ordering the release of all those clamped in jail all this while as a result of the Ezza/Ezillo clash especially the 83 indigent citizens from Ezza clan.

    “The governor should unleash the climate of joy and happiness on as many people as he can,” he said.