It is no
news that oftentimes activities in the House of Representatives, just like
those in the Upper Chamber, present a theatre of the absurd. Once again, in
another script
from their usual theatrics, the so-called ‘honourables’ were
alleged to have prepared to buy 360 exotic cars worth N6.1billion for their
members, amidst alleged cash crunch in a biting economy. That they also play
out this paradox with nonchalance is a demonstration of insensitivity, even as
it speaks volume about their sense of duty, attitude to privileges as well as the
quality of their moral character.
Reports
making the round the other day disclosed that members of the House of
Representatives had complained of unpaid salaries for the month of July as well
as reduction of their monthly allowances. According to some reports, many
legislators, in mixed feelings of disappointment and apprehension over this
delay, had even shunned their constituencies, deciding to remain in Abuja until
things normalised. But amidst this clamour, the law makers were also
frantically awaiting the delivery of 360 exotic cars valued at N17 million
each. Many had complained that they fuelled and used their vehicles at their
expense.
Whilst the
legislators may be deserving of empathy from Nigerians over this plight, their
present condition is just a reflection of the general state of affairs in the
country. If for nothing, this temporary upset should open their eyes to the
pitiable conditions under which Nigerians have been living. They should be
happy that they even have the means to transport themselves to work, and also
have the resources to fuel their vehicles. It is also instructive that these
complaints, hitherto typical of workers in ministries, departments and agencies
of government, are coming from the nation’s legislators.
The question
to ask at this juncture is: what happened to monetisation policy of 2003,
signed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, and which entitled legislators to
monetise their fringe benefits? Isn’t the monetisation policy applicable to the
cars about to be purchased? If that is the case, are the law makers not
contravening the laws they themselves made, and by so doing stealing from the
people?
Granted that
these law makers are entitled to the largesse apportioned to them, it needs
being asked whether, at this critical time of economic fortune, the purchase of
a car worth N17 million as official vehicle per legislator makes any sense. How
does it stand in the context of a spiraling downturn in the economy? Workers
are being owed salaries, the investment environment is inclement, incentives
for production are virtually absent, everywhere, pensioners are denied their
entitlements, even as workers are embarking on strike actions in many sectors
of the economy. Yet people who should speak empathy and understanding to the
confused masses marooned in the economic periphery are the ones complaining
about delay in their scandalous perquisites. The symbolism portrayed by this
gesture is one of brutal insensitivity.
It is sad to
note that with so much emphasis on acquisition of cars, payments of severance
allowances, and the frenetic demand for immunity from criminal prosecution, the
legislature seems to have become an assembly where matters of manifest
selfishness often overshadow healthy discussion relevant to statecraft.
What is more
is the fact that the legislature is a continuous circulation and inbreeding of
mediocre politicians who have turned their elective positions into a fiefdom of
sorts. Despite an array of experts at their service as aides, many, willfully
or ignorantly, lack the requisite knowledge for governance; others are just
bench-warmers with neither the comportment for public service nor the capacity
for meaningful contribution at debate sessions.
All this, no
doubt, reflects the character of the Nigerian legislator. In the one and half
decades since this democratic dispensation, Nigeria’s legislators have not
matured to the level of sagacity and finer ideals required of them. Not even
the presence of some refined personalities in the hallowed chamber has been
able to positively affect the legislators. The rabid craving for wealth and
power of these public officers, their rapacious display of insensitivity, their
relish for official rascality and impunity and their susceptibility to
employing unconstitutional devices to their advantage, have portrayed the
Nigerian legislator as a compulsive sinecurist and mere holder of state power.
This
newspaper had admonished with so much emphasis that the good heads in the
National Assembly should rise above the pestilential influence of the bad eggs,
and impress their moral conviction and sense of responsibility on the Houses.
In earlier editorials it had also informed readers that the complexities of
this country are no more than those of the United States from where it borrowed
its system of government. Yet, the United States Congress has about 22
committees compared to the glut in Nigeria, where the Senate has 58 committees
and the House of Representatives has over 300! Besides, in countries far more
economically buoyant than Nigeria, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, and
even some African countries, the fleet of vehicles is organised into an
official pool, so that no one claims ownership of a vehicle or uses it outside
official duties.
This
arrangement ensures accountability, transparency and proper management of state
resources. With the indiscriminate proliferation of committees and vehicle
entitlement, every legislator is either a chairman or deputy of a committee.
Thus, the cost of managing the committees is obscenely high, and rebounds in a
management cost that the country cannot afford.
It is for
this reason that the occupational status of Nigeria’s legislators should be
part-time. Had they considered that theirs is a part-time legislature, they
would be less likely to depend on the state for their livelihood. They would
also be less likely to over-rate their stature as human beings. Anyone who
aspires to become a public servant should realise that service for the common
good is not a business enterprise, but one of sacrifice. It is not a promotion
to power, or a compensation for party loyalty. It is rather a burden of
responsibility that requires clear thinking to see goals beyond self, and
commitment to pursuing the realisation of the common good.
Certainly,
it is assumed that legislators, by their aspirations, are persons with some
level of intellectual excellence. Thus, even if there is no law against the
scandalous expenditure and deployment of resources in their favour, it is only
commonsensical that they exercise restraint in their spending. There is no
better way of expressing solidarity with the hapless masses and displaying the
spirit of service, other than this gesture of enlightened common sense.
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