The Nation Newspaper

Tag: national assembly

  • The real agenda

    The real agenda

    Jobs: that is the urgent message, as hundreds of job-seeking youth storm the precincts of the National Assembly, even as legislators tussle inside

    The Nation, on its front page of June 24, published a big picture with a head tag: “Job hunt at the National Assembly”; and caption: “A crowd of job seekers in search of legislative aides jobs scrambling for legislators’ attention at the lobby of the National Assembly, Abuja …”

    The picture, though, could have passed for a mass of well wishers. Still, it was not a day for swearing-in; or any ceremonial panache. Indeed, The Nation source at the scene said the crowd was made up of putative legislative aides, reportedly invited by the authorities of the National Assembly (NASS) bureaucracy, for pre-engagement interaction.

    Whatever further details about the crowd, that it was job-driven speaks of some serious agenda, which the feuding National Assembly (NASS), over its own leadership, would appear too distracted to appreciate. Indeed, it was implicating symbolism of a sort.

    Job-seeking youths mass at the NASS lobby, focused on getting themselves jobs as legislative aides, to distinguished senators and honourable House members. But inside the hallowed chambers, the senators and representatives themselves betrayed tragic distraction by feuding over the house leadership — an exercise that ought to have been a shoo-in, if all the feuding parties had embraced equity, justice and fair play!

    If putting the NASS leadership in place is a means to an end — a means to picking, among the legislators, who best can manage their peers to get the job done quickly, efficiently and effectively — then the tragic distractions of the legislators are best felt. If you war and war over getting the means right, what is the guarantee that you would ever get close to tackling the end?

    Yet, there is work, a lot of work, to be done. There is high level of trauma in the land, the chief economic trauma being mass joblessness; and the people look up to their elected representatives to hit the ground running, in striving to solve the problem. Yet, from the contrasting pictures of a people massing for jobs, and their elected officials seriously feuding over what could have been avoidable, there is this awry impression that the National Assembly is not quite primed for the great task ahead.

    Indeed, Nigeria is at a terrible juncture. Though the country, by its tempestuous history, appears in near-eternal crisis, this is a particularly dangerous juncture, socio-economic wise.

    According to the Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), unemployment rate increased by 24.20 per cent in the first quarter of 2015. That means, between January and March this year, nearly one out of every four Nigerians is unemployed.

    Tracking a 10-year employment statistics, from 2006 to 2015, also suggests a deteriorating phenomenon. In 2006, according to NBS figures, unemployment figures averaged 15.97 per cent (more than one person in every 10). Though the figures, at the fourth quarter of 2006 had dipped to 5.30 per cent (slightly less than one in every 20), it had climbed to 23.90 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2011 (again, nearly one out of every four Nigerians jobless); to further flare to 24.20 per cent from January to March, this year.

    Between 2006 and 2015, a lot had happened, on the political plane, to further strangulate the economy (though extant figures claim Nigeria’s economy grew by an average of seven per cent all these years) and further spread mass poverty (since strangely, the so-called paper growth hardly resulted in development, talk less of mass prosperity).

    Still, on political history: 2006 was the final but one year of the Olusegun Obasanjo presidency, with that government’s attempt at illegal term extension infamously dubbed “Third term” and the humongous corruption that swirled round it; 2007 was the year the health-challenged President Umaru Yar’Adua took power. His death, in May 2010, led to high tension and confusion, which further had adverse effects on the economy; and 2011 was when President Goodluck Jonathan won his own first term, after completing what was left of the late Yar’Adua’s. That year announced the infamous oil subsidy scam, which grew worse as the Jonathan term wore on.

    That unemployment peaked during the first quarter of 2015, in the heat of the electioneering for the 2015 election, which President Jonathan and his former ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lost, was logical; given the turn of events during the Jonathan Presidency. It was on this basis that, for the first time in Nigerian history, a ruling federal party was voted out of office.

    This unprecedented loss came with a mass craving for the new ruling party to make things right.  That drove the ‘Change’ electoral war cry, which resonated with the masses. But the gravity of that new covenant seems lost on the National Assembly, as it takes false but avoidable steps, at the very start of the Muhammadu Buhari presidency.

    The National Assembly should use the job invasion of its lobby as a point of re-contact. It must stay focused and realise the enormity of the current economic crisis; and take its rightful place as a historic change agent. It should not wait for calls for Nigerians to “Occupy National Assembly” before snapping into its historic role. Unemployment, particularly youth unemployment, is a time bomb waiting to explode.

  • Mixed reactions trail Saraki’s claim on principal officers

    Mixed reactions trail Saraki’s claim on principal officers

    Mixed reactions on Friday greeted the claim by Senate President, Bukola Saraki, that his hands were tied over the appointments of principal officers for the 8th National Assembly held on Thursday.
    The Senate had adopted the elections of principal officers contrary to the directives of the All Progressive Congress, APC.
    “Whilst one is strongly persuaded to toe party line and act in accordance with the suggested party position, regrettably, clear provisions of our extant rules and parliamentary conventions have not given me that leeway to act otherwise.

    “Therefore, my hands are tired in the circumstances and I seek your understanding in this regards,” The Senate President said in a letter addressed to the chairman of APC.

    Some of the reactions include:

    Kayode Ogundamisi on Facebook said: “Senator Saraki’s antics are no longer funny”

  • Uproar in House of Reps over leadership crisis

    Uproar in House of Reps over leadership crisis

    The crisis rocking the House of Representatives took a different turn, Thursday as members physically exchanged blows.

    Details later…..

  • Reshaping Nigeria through National Assembly

    It is a general belief that only the executive arm of government should be credited for the success or blamed for the failure of an administration. In doing so, the legislative arm of government is stylishly left out of criticisms when jabs are thrown at the executive for failing to perform. This attitude was palpable during the last general elections when some Nigerians still don’t know the reasons for election of representative to the National Assembly (NASS).

    Voters were not bothered; all they wanted is another president. One wonders if the president they wanted can work alone without the support of legislature.

    The NASS is bicameral law-making body. It consists of 109 members of the Senate and 360 members of the House of Representatives. This gives a total of 469 lawmakers. The legislature is large enough to make laws that would give the country a positive lift. Although, there are many lawmakers who mark attendance to avoid their seats being declared vacant.

    The 1999 Constitution gives the NASS power to make laws for the peace, order and good governance. This expressly stipulates the priority of the National Assembly. In contrast to this constitutional provision, the executive arm, which is chaired by the president or governor, shall execute all laws made by the legislature. It is relevant to note that the executive, in no way, can make statutory laws in governing a country.

    For the present government to perform above expectation, the executive does not need lawmakers who are onlookers. It is high time Nigerians felt the impact of effective lawmaking and not four years of bench-warming. The 8th NASS can achieve a lot if the legislators can do their work properly.

    The 7th NASS was known for its list of numerous bills, some of which are nothing closer to being passed into the laws. It is disturbing that a bill takes four years to be deliberated upon before its passage. Yet, some won’t ever see the light of the day. In a proper legislative setting, time should not be wasted on a particular bill, knowing that there are many others awaiting deliberation. A bill is either accepted or rejected. Yet, this is not implicitly or explicitly stating that the legislative process should be rushed. Else, the intention of the legislation would not be achieved.

    The 8th NASS should devise a mean not to elongate the process of bills passage. There is no gain in dragging the process of lawmaking too long. The nation is in dire need of legislations that will result in growth. It would be a good omen if the pending bills from the last assembly are passed within the first 100 days. After all, legislative duty in is not a part-time job.

    One of the bills that should top the priority list of the lawmakers is Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB). Up till today, it is inexplicable why the last assembly desired to be slow on the issue. Recently, there are signs that the bill may be rejected. PIB seeks to make oil and gas operation more efficient and transparent. It also seeks to liberalise the management and control of the oil and gas sector, thereby bringing in more investments and improving fiscal prudence.

    Another important legislation is the Fly Nigeria Bill which would make it mandatory for public officers to use local airlines in trips funded by the government unless there is no local airline flying to the destination.

    The alteration of the 1999 Constitution is not debatable. Nigeria really needs a constitution that will reflect the wishes of the people. Apart from the fact that the last Assembly amended the Constitution to unbundle the office of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, it also provided for the appointment of the Accountant-General of the Federation in order to enhance transparency and accountability in the management of the federation account.

    However, there is need to make the economic, social and cultural rights as provided in chapter two of the Constitution more than a mere declaration. The right of a child to have basic education and health services is not debatable.

    Also, autonomy for local governments for the development of the grassroots should be strengthened. This is long overdue. Many local governments are not buoyant financially to cater for the need of the people. Although, the last assembly made a law to grant full financial and administrative autonomy to the local governments, the problem lies in making such policy effective.

    Since the 7th NASS was known for its habit of “take a bow and go” in the screening of ministerial nominees and other appointees, the current legislature must stop this culture. This laxity cost the nation a lot, given the appointment of misfits and corrupt men into public offices. Ministerial nominees should be subjected to rigorous screening. Though, the major problem is the failure to separate party affairs from national duty.

    The current crops of lawmakers should grill ministerial nominees thoroughly to ensure the best get appointed. Rejection of nominees should also be a rule. Let the President know that the Constitution recognises separation of powers. Collaboration is imperative in the incoming administration considering the situation of the economy and financial status of the country. This will also enable the arms of government to provide solution to national challenges. If there are competent hands as ministers, a lot of things would definitely be in order.

    The current legislators must be distinct by not saying ‘Aye’ every time to massage the ego of their parties. They must try every possible means to make the government fruitful. Nigerians are fed up with lawmakers that only appear to mark attendance, sleep or make nonsensical display. Lawmakers are not miscreants. People chose them because they are deemed fit for the job.

    The 8th assembly should be prepared to tackle corruption and work towards achieving a better economy.

    We should hope that we are not in for another session of lawlessness. God bless Nigeria.

     

    •Ayorinsola, 400-Level Law, OOU

  • National Assembly: Oyegun writes Saraki, Dogara on APC’s position

    National Assembly: Oyegun writes Saraki, Dogara on APC’s position

    National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Chief John Odigie-Oyegun yesterday wrote to Senate President Bukola Saraki and House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara, stating the party’s position on principal officers for the eighth National Assembly.

    The letter to Saraki, reads: “Please find below for your necessary action names of principal officers approved by the party, after excessive consultations for the 8th Senate as follows: Senator Ahmed  Lawan(Majority Leader)–North-East; Prof. Sola Adeyeye( Chief Whip)–South-West; Sen. George Akume  (Deputy Majority Leader)—North-Central; and Sen. Abu Ibrahim(Deputy Chief Whip)—North-West.

    A similar letter to the Speaker says: “Please find below for your necessary action names of principal officers approved by the party after extensive consultations for the eighth House of Representatives  as follows:   Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila (House Leader) South-West; Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa(Deputy House Leader)—North-West; Hon. M. T. Monguno(Chief Whip)—North-East; and Hon. Pally Iriase(Deputy Chief Whip)—South-South. This comes with the assurances of my highest regards.”

    A source said: “The APC leadership is ready to assert the supremacy of the party and enforce party discipline.

    “The only honourable path is for the President of the Senate and the Speaker to respect the party’s wish by accommodating those aggrieved over their election. We need to heal wounds and ensure a sustainable reconciliation.

    “If we do not reconcile, the Eighth National Assembly will not be able to stabilise. We cannot afford to derail this new administration.

    “Unless there is another agenda at play, the new National Assembly leaders should make peace with their colleagues by adopting the party’s lists.

    “The party has a say in the choice of principal officers. This was the case in the First, Second, Third and Fourth Republics.”

  • Huge wardrobe allowance for National Assembly members unnecessary, says Bakare

    Huge wardrobe allowance for National Assembly members unnecessary, says Bakare

    Save Nigeria Group (SNG) founder Pastor Tunde Bakare has described as unnecessary the huge wardrobe allowance for National Assembly members.

    He also called on Nigerians to give President Muhammadu Buhari time to assess what he met on ground to be able to make sound decisions to take the nation forward.

    Pastor Bakare spoke with our correspondent on Sunday shortly before declaring the annual convention of the Glory Christian Centre, Lagos with the theme One thousand times more opened.

    He said: “I believe they were wearing clothes before they came in. Were they naked before they got there? Didn’t they have clothes in their wardrobes?

    “Where are the likes of Papa Ajasin, former Governor of Ondo state, who declared his asset and said the number of clothes he took to the State House was the same number he came out with?

    “Will our lawmakers be on a fashion parade? All those things should be cut off.

    “We have states that cannot pay salaries and they want to live fat at the expense of the masses. I believe that time will sort everything out.”

    He confirmed he actually slumped while delivering a lecture during the Capital Investors dinner at the Eko Hotel and Suites on May 18, attributing the incident to “dehydration that produced exhaustion.”

    The outspoken preacher said: “Yes, it’s true for about three minutes I slumped but within a few minutes I walked into my car. And they carried out all examinations here and even in England and they found nothing other than dehydration that produced exhaustion. I am on two litres of water per day with adequate rest.

    “I had been living on tea. In 24 hours, they gave me seven drips. After that, I have been maintaining constant consumption of water.

    “Any person in public glare should not lie about his health. That happened within three minutes and I thank God I bounced back. I made it because I still have an assignment.”

    The senior pastor of Latter Rain Assembly Ogba, Lagos

    urged Nigerians to give Buhari chance.

    He said: “I think it is good to give the new government time to settle down and time to assess what they have inherited from the Jonathan’s government so that they can sit down and begin to put the Nigerian house in order. And it’s good to give them time.”

    On why key appointments into the new administration were taking time, he said: “That will take its time. Remember the president told the nation that he did not get the handover note until May 28.

    “So, his transition committee didn’t have anything to work with. Just a few days back, it handed over the report in 8,000 pages reduced to about 800 pages.

    “It is when you have studied what was handed over to you that you begin to think of who to put where to help you.

    “And I can assure you behind the scene, that a lot is going on in the engine room.”

    He said the new faces of the current administration might start emerging before the end of June.

    Affirming that Buhari will deliver on his promise to change the nation, the former Vice Presidential candidate of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), added: “You have heard that we will have a lean, as against an over bloated government. All these things will take time. You don’t do these things in a hurry.”

    Asked if he will accept the offer of a ministerial appointment, the fiery preacher simply said: “I will cross that river when I get to the bridge.”

     

  • Lawmaking: social responsibility or self-enrichment?

    Lawmaking: social responsibility or self-enrichment?

    All the ideas emanating from the National Assembly regarding remuneration of lawmakers are far from the ethic of social responsibility, which requires people in leadership positions to accept an obligation to act for the benefit of society

    Even a few days into the new administration, it is becoming clear that some lawmakers are already acting as if they have lost the political will for change.

    Given the manner of choosing principal officers in the new National Assembly recently, it is not exaggeration for a public affairs observer or commentator to say that it is getting hard (or harder than in the days of Jonathan) to tell who and who in the legislature is working for APC’s manifesto of change or for PDP’s commitment to continuity or ‘business as usual.’ But today’s column is not about how and who got into the juicy positions in the Senate and the House of Representatives. After all, the ruling party has officially assured the public that it is ready to work with those elected into legislative offices, regardless of the initial controversy generated by the sidelining of 51 APC senators. Some people would say that the elite struggle for power in Nigeria is better left to the elites within the power circle to sort out. But citizens need to get intervene in the discourse of power politics before self-serving politicians drive and bury them in poverty.

    The interest today is to focus on level of remuneration for lawmakers in the new Nigeria of diminishing revenue from the easy source of foreign exchange that had driven individuals and organisations for decades to expect to be pampered with huge salaries and outlandish allowances. In the days of high revenue from petroleum, even the authors of the current constitution chose to give the power to determine what states and public office holders get as allocations and salaries/allowances to a group. The Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation, and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) is constitutionally charged with recommending what every stratum of the polity gets from proceeds from the oil flowing from wombs of the Niger Delta. Although RMAFC prides itself on its website as independent, it remains to be seen how much of that independence or autonomy has been used to plead for moderation in matters pertaining to remuneration of political office holders and lawmakers. RMAFC is on record as complaining about several allowances lawmakers awarded themselves in the past, an indication that lawmakers have taken liberty to exploit their positions.

    Whatever was the culture in the past, the new economic realities in the country now call for more critical thinking than was the case in the regimes of Olusegun Obasanjo, UmaruYar’Adua, and Goodluck Jonathan. The abundance that led to creation of 36 states, 774 local governments, over 400 House of Representative members, over 100 senators, and even recently to recommendations for moving the number of states from 36 to 55 appears to be drying up faster than the authors of the Nigeria of today could imagine.

    All the ideas emanating from the National Assembly regarding remuneration of lawmakers are far from the ethic of social responsibility, which requires people in leadership positions to accept an obligation to act for the benefit of society. For example, the claim by the deputy speaker that the National Assembly is a separate arm of the federal government with its own peculiarities does not suggest any readiness on the part of this APC man from Osun State to respond appropriately to the call for prudence and sensitivity to society’s needs. To say that a budget of 150 billion naira is not much because it is less than three per cent of the total budget is tantamount to ignoring the new realities on the ground. Similarly, the defence of over half a million naira wardrobe allowance for lawmakers by the new Senate President and the spokesperson for the RMAFC during his recent visit to the Senate leader also misses the point.

    While it may not be right to blame the 8th National Assembly for the largesse given to lawmakers directly or indirectly in the last sixteen years, it is proper to expect new legislators, particularly those who got elected on the platform of the party that promised Change to get critical and creative about how to end what citizens generally have considered as oversize budget to pamper lawmakers in particular. A country that has borrowed money to pay salaries even at the federal level is not in any position to justify giving its legislators salaries and allowances higher than what their counterparts earn in wealthier and more advanced countries or what senior public servants like judges, professors, permanent secretaries, generals, etc earn for serving the country on a full-time basis.

    Given that the long list of demands that the anaemic treasury inherited by the new government must have forced President Buhari to take to the G7, no legislator should need special persuasion to realize the need to cut out the culture of waste inherited from the past. Nigeria is still one of the poorest countries in the world, despite its huge petroleum revenue in the past. Over 65% of Nigerians are believed to live on less than 300 naira a day. Child and maternal mortality in Nigeria is higher than that of many of its neighbours. Education and health care are two major social services that have been in decline for years. Most Nigerians have access to electricity not for more than two hours a day. Most Nigerians have no access to potable water while about 98% of Nigerians travel on substandard roads on a daily basis. Most Nigerians working in the public sector do not get their salaries as and when due while pensioners in many parts of the country get their pension benefits usually in arrears. Apart from the special insecurity of Boko Haram, most of the roads and streets in the country are unsafe for any form of night-time economic activities. All of these happen even after the government at all levels owe over $60 billion, most of which have apparently been used to finance recurrent expenditures. What other evidence should any serious-minded lawmaker need to get real?

    There has been so much opaqueness about how much money is given to lawmakers as salary or allowance. While the basic salary of the average legislator looks normal, the list of allowances is scandalous: furniture, wardrobe, utilities, vehicle maintenance, leave, newspaper, constituency, recess, domestic staff, entertainment, personal assistance, etc. When added up, all these allowances and salaries put the Nigerian legislator as the highest paid lawmaker in the world. And this is despite the fact that lawmaking in Nigeria is a part-time activity, 120 to 180 days on the job in a year. Citizens serving the country in non-elective positions have to work 260 days in a year to earn a net income that averages between .001 to 10% of what lawmakers and other political office holders get in the name of allowances.

    As laudable as the decision of the new governor of Kaduna State to take only half of his salary is and as ridiculous as the readiness of the Bayelsa Senator to pass his wardrobe allowance to widows in his state and workers in Osun State sounds, what is needed at this point is not good-hearted philanthropy from overpaid political office holders in the executive or the legislature. The country’s economic condition, most graphically illustrated by borrowing money to pay salaries and the long list of requests President Buhari had to carry to Bavaria for consideration by members of the G7 group, calls for bold intervention.

    The onus to show a higher sense of responsibility in determination of what to pay federal, state, and local political office holders is not just on the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission. Lawmakers should seize the initiative to assure citizens that they are not in the National Assembly for the over generous emoluments inherited from sixteen years of profligacy in government. When citizens shifted majority of their votes from the PDP after sixteen years to the party that promised to change the way the country has been governed, they wanted to end a model of governance that appeared to privilege enrichment of the tiny political elite over the general welfare of citizens. Undoubtedly, the Resource Curse that is part of the rentier state nurtured in the last fifty years must have produced the regimes of indulgence that the 2015 election results had promised to change. If, as it has become clear, our Manna economy cannot sustain prodigal allowances of the tiny political elite, it stands to reason that the change to an economy based on productivity and taxation will not be able to sustain the extravagant allowances for lawmakers and members of the executive branch of government. It is time for citizens to get more vigilant.

  • Nigeria’s own ‘Rotten Parliament’?

    Nigeria’s own ‘Rotten Parliament’?

    What our National Assembly members take home is ungodly and inhuman.
    They should slash, instead of trying to justify it

    Even if our senators and House of Representatives members went to the National Assembly naked, they would not require N506,600 each per annum as wardrobe allowance in a country where minimum wage is N18,000. Of course we cannot stop those of them with the means to wear the best of apparels money can buy. But those who cannot should wear whatever the country can afford given its dire economic predicament. After all, the law makers were elected for the primary purpose of making laws and not for fashion parade. The rest of us do not have to go naked for our law makers to look good. Even at the all-time low N18,000 minimum wage, many states are months in arrears. Our lawmakers are not talking about this.

    That over 16 years after the N5million each furniture allowance for our legislators raised ruckus in the country we are still grappling with allowances for them, has proved that we are nowhere near getting the legislators to shed weight. About two months ago, a legislator from one of the state houses of assembly was asked on a live television show, what his take-home pay was. Apparently caught off-guard by the question from an angry caller, the lawmaker murmured some mumbo-jumbo. When he finally found his voice, he said “em em … about (I think) N1m per month”. The angry caller was not impressed by the ‘about’ and he resorted, “so, you don’t even know how much you earn monthly?” The legislator made frantic effort to justify his inexactitude. The caller then asked why the legislator was trying to justify that lawmakers’ pay was not outrageous. He replied that the caller did not know what the issues were. He said there are a lot of people that the legislators ‘settle’ and that if they did not ‘settle’ them, the legislator would not return to the house. Now, the question is: must he return to the house? Was he born there?

    One may say this legislator is naïve for revealing that much, but what he said is the truth. Most legislators want to return to the house. Yet, I have not seen any of them that has convinced anyone as to why they should receive the bogus pay they get. Even when Dimeji Bankole, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives visited The Nation when he was speaker and he was asked the same question on their pay, he laboured in vain to convince the editors that he was addressing on the issue. He brought  his pay slip to the newspaper house and even waxed dramatic by handing it out to us for perusal. But we saw beyond the miserable figure in black ink and quickly pointed out to him that what we were talking about was beyond what was contained in the say-nothing pay slip; so, he should not call dog monkey for us.

    Some legislators say they must be well paid so as to insulate them from corruption, especially from the ministries, departments and parastatals they are carrying oversight on. For me, they are talking like this because this is Nigeria. In other places, both the giver and the taker of bribes, if caught, would go to jail.

    Besides, legislators’ primary responsibility is to make laws for good governance. But our own lawmakers have placed oversight and constituency projects over and above this primary responsibility because of the quick money they make from them. Even the newly inaugurated legislators are already scrambling for what they call juicy committees in the National Assembly instead of struggling to ensure making laws for good governance. It is because of the greed for oversight and constituency projects that our senators in the 7th National Assembly passed 46 bills in 10 minutes on June 3, barely 48 hours to the end of their tenure!

    If good pay is an antidote to corruption, then our lawmakers should have little or nothing to do with the cankerworm, as some of the most pampered in the world.  Despite being well paid, some of them even in the just-ended Seventh National Assembly still got involved in scandals. If we stretch the same logic of poor pay to the police and other sectors, then it means we should understand why police men and others too are corrupt?

    The point is, the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) should ensure that whatever the legislators get is what our economy can sustain.  What obtains is outrageous. For example, as at June 2007, under a new salary package, each Senator was entitled to N53.7 million and a House of Representatives member, N47.9 million per annum. By 2013, the Nigerian lawmaker had become the world’s highest paid at N3million per month (basic salary minus outrageous allowances).  Given the new figures released for some of these emoluments, the senators are to get N4,052,800, N6,079,200 and N8,105,600m for housing, furniture and vehicles, respectively. House of Representatives members will however get N3,970,425, N5,955,637.50 and N7,940,850.50 each for the same purposes. These are mere percentages of their basic salaries and it also excluded the real money spinners for the lawmakers as contained in the fabulous constituency allowances, as well others that are hardly in the public domain.

    I am not aware there was any lawmaker that was drafted into the race. Many of them fought bitter struggles to get their tickets; many spent a fortune to get elected apparently because they expected to recoup their ‘investment’ later. But lawmaking is serious business and is meant for people who want to serve and not those who want to be served. Any of them who is not comfortable with what the country can afford should return home.

    It is fraudulent and self-serving for lawmakers to compare themselves with career civil servants as some of them are trying to do . If there is any issue with civil servants, it is not about their pay; rather, it is about corruption, particularly the ‘ghost workers’ syndrome’ and over-inflation of contracts. Many civil servants who served meritoriously for decades get nothing near what many of these political appointees get for working (?) in just four years. Our present lawmakers conveniently forget that this same job was done creditably by people on part-time basis in the First Republic.  Moreover, legislators in some other countries, including Britain and the United States of America, travel by rail; many live in rented apartments, etc. So, what is the big deal in being a lawmaker?   Why are our own lawmakers making a fetish of lawmaking?

    Our present legislators must begin to make the point that change has finally come rather than keep justifying the absurdity. Part of the ways to herald this change is by shedding some of these indefensible drains on the public till that they collect as pay, either directly or indirectly. We all must have learnt from the last general elections that Nigerians are no longer fools. Indeed, that was amply demonstrated by the protest over the wardrobe allowance last week, even though that was over-bloated. If we all agree that “charity begins at home”; then the ruling party’s lawmakers must live by this dictum. That is the only way they can make nonsense of the saying that there are no firstborns among pigs because all of them (from the oldest to the youngest), play in the mud.

    The legislators must be reminded of the British experience, specifically the public outrage that trailed the revelations by The Telegraph Group which in 2009 leaked the expense claims made by members of the United Kingdom Parliament over several years. Just as our own lawmakers are trying to shield the actual amount they take home annually, so did the British MPs too before the great revelations which caused a lot of public outrage. The MPs lost out and the matter got to the front burner of national discourse. The revelations led to a loss of confidence in politics and politicians. This was eventually followed by a large number of resignations, sackings, de-selections and retirement announcements, together with public apologies and the repayment of expenses by the over- pampered MPs. Indeed, some of them were prosecuted and convicted.

    In summary, it was sundry matters like allowances and excess payments by the British MPs that led to political reforms even beyond these issues and ultimately to the derogatory reference to the British parliament elected in 2005 as the ‘Rotten Parliament’. Our National Assembly members must let reform come from within because coming from without could be catastrophic. They should not give Nigerians the opportunity of storming the place as the French people stormed the Bastille. They should spare a thought  for the  over 75 per cent of the citizens condemned to destitution and  living on less than $2 per day. They should remember the over 40 million youths which official statistics reckon to be jobless.

  • Deputy Speaker: N150b for National Assembly okay

    Deputy Speaker: N150b for National Assembly okay

    •Lasun vows not to resign

    House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Yusuf Lasun yesterday defended the N150 billion budgetary allocation for the National Assembly, saying it is not excessive.

    Lasun spoke at the inauguration of the House Ad hoc Committee on Welfare, where he represented the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara.

    Reacting to questions from reporters on the public criticism of salaries and allowances of senators and members of the House of Representatives, the Deputy Speaker noted that the N150 billion received by the National Assembly yearly is only 2.67 per cent of the national budget.

    His words: “When you talk about salary, it has to be tied to something. Let me tell you this. For the last three years, with the exception of 2015, the budget of National Assembly has been N150 billion and that is exactly 2.67 per cent of the total budget of the federation. So, I don’t know where people see this when they said it was 25 per cent of the budget of the federation.

    “The budget of the National Assembly is 2.67 per cent of the budget of the federation and so, it is not overblown. People have suddenly forgotten and don’t know that there are 469 members in the National Assembly with each one having five aides, paid from the N150 billion with their technocrats. We have National Assembly Commission; all of them drawing their salaries and allowances from the N150 billion.

    “So, when people talk, they say it’s only the House of Representatives members and the senators that collect the N150 billion. But they forget that in the 2015 budget, the money has been reduced to N120 billion.

    “That’s why the Dogara’s Speakership in the last one week has repeatedly made it known to the public that he’s going to engage in what we call NEEDS assessment; that we are going to call the development partners to sit down and see what it takes for the National Assembly to be involved as an arm of government. You might be surprised that we have reasons that we can compare with other legislative houses all over the world. But it’s not going to come from us. It will come from that body that is going to sit down.”

    Responding to questions on the call for his resignation from some quarters, Lasun, who polled 203 votes against 153 votes by his opponent, Mohammed Monguno (APC-Borno) in the June 9 election House leadership election, said anyone who was expecting him to resign was merely wasting his or her time.

    He said: “It’s not correct, that is speculation. Why will I resign when I went through an election?”

    Lasun instructed the committee to provide working materials/office equipment for the lawmakers, sitting allowances for various standing committees and ensure payment of entitlements, including car loan, accommodation among others.

    The committee, which has a member from each state, he said, is also to allocate offices and seats for members based on ranking and to provide conducive environment for members to work.

  • NASS: Tinubu can resolve APC crisis – Majekodunmi

    NASS: Tinubu can resolve APC crisis – Majekodunmi

    A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Femi Majekodunmi, on Friday expressed the confidence that the crisis within the party resulting from the emergence of the leadership of the eighth National Assembly would be resolved soon.

    Majekodunmi,  said the National Leader of APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has the political sagacity to handle the matter and urged him to begin the process of reconciling all the parties involved in the crisis.

    The medical doctor – cum politician who spoke with  reporters in Abeokuta at the weekend, said given the immense contribution of Tinubu to the successes recorded by the party, the onus on him to save the ruling party from what could lead to its factionalisation.

    According to him,  the former Lagos State governor has the skills needed to call a meeting of the major stakeholders of the party where the crisis which erupted over the election of Senator Bukola Saraki as Senate President and Hon. Yakubu Dogara, as Speaker, House of Representatives respectively, can be settled once and for all.

    Majekodunmi, a close associates of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, maintained that going to court by the aggrieved party will bring further damage to the APC.

    He said, ”  It is important for the leadership of the party to learn from and also move a step ahead of what happened when both Hon. Dimeji Bankole and Hon. Aminu Tambuwal were elected Speaker of the House of Representatives even when they were not the preferred candidate of their party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which did not sanction them.

    “With what Asiwaju Tinubu has done in the past, the time has come for him to deploy his political know-how to tilt the leadership of the party towards genuine reconciliation through a meeting of the necessary stakeholders which will make Nigerians not regretting voting for the party in the last general elections.”

    The Baagbile of Egbaland further enjoined the APC National Leader not to have any candidate for any position among members of the party, stating that his role in the present political dispensation should be that of father to all with no preferred or anointed member.

    He said the APC has to be careful not to give room for the opposition to come to limelight, noting that the PDP will always be happy to capitalise on the foibles of the ruling party to catch the attention of Nigerians.

    “It is in the interest of the leadership and teeming members of the party not to play into the hands of the opposition party whose major prayer will be for the APC to fail and disappoint Nigerians through its actions and in-actions,” he said.