Legislative Business A La Naija

So two nation builders

Arrived home this evening

With terrible stomach pains

The result of building the nation -

- Different ways.

 

Henry Barlow, in Building the Nation 

 

Data released last year shows that it costs us N29, 479, 749.00 a month, N182 million a year to maintain a senator.   Our National Assembly has its own purse and cannot be told how to spend from it. That apart, we are in the second half of the year yet no budget. The Petroleum Industry Bill is still hanging, whilst it is taking forever to amend the 1999 Constitution. I feel pain.

 Parliament in the United Kingdom provides such a contrast, where an Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) is required to upwardly review the remuneration of Members of Parliament (MPs). A 10 per cent pay rise from £66,396 (N17.1 million) to £74,000 (N19.2 million), as compared to our own N182 million per annum, for UK’s MPs to bring their salaries in line with other senior public sector wages was subject to institutional and public scrutiny. 

 Even at this, the British public felt it wasn’t justified. They felt it was particularly insensitive in an era of economic slowdown. MPs themselves criticised IPSA for exposing them to the wrath of the public. They had not asked for the pay rise, the body had to explain in detail why and how it arrived at the figures. It turned out that some of the MP’s allowances were cut to get a pay rise commensurate with what other public servants earn. Somebody should please tell our lawmakers here that the National Assembly is not a place that we aspire to just to make money but rather a place where we go to make sacrifices in serving our nation; to fight the cause of the common man. Oh, I feel pain!

Who plays the role of IPSA in determining what our legislators earn? The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) does not know exactly how much they earn! Nobody apart from them can explain the complete makeup of their salaries and allowances. Our money o!

The 1999 Constitution is not OUR CONSTITUTION; we had nothing to do in shaping it. It was created by the military and handed over to us. It is ours to now shape, otherwise nagging issues will forever continue to surface and divide us.  The farce that has recently been played out by the senate should wake us up to the reality that the custodians of our laws, who are supposed to engineer the reconstruction of our flawed structures, are quite bent on maintaining the status quo because it allows for ambiguity and a tight reign on power at the center, which serves their pockets. Their voting pattern on constitution amendment shows that they are not the leaders amongst us who are capable of propelling our hopes and desires to fruition. They are only concerned in controlling the purse strings.

Local government administration continues to be a phony third tier of government because its fiscal autonomy, control of its funds, which will make it accountable to the people directly, was voted against.  The dichotomy of indigene-ship or “state of origin” has not been replaced with citizenship or “state of residence.” An Abuja mayor elected by the people would be compelled to be answerable to the electorate and underscore the vision of the federal capital as home for all. But no, the Senate prefers an appointed man Friday.

 It should also be explained to Senator Yerima that we could be Muslims or Christians – go to the mosque or to the church – but as democrats should understand that that has nothing to do with the affairs of state.  Our parliamentarians do not suffer the pains of nation building. They are mercenary gold diggers who do not have the stomachs for leadership. The shameful occurrences at the Rivers State House of Assembly are a microcosm of their leadership. We should all understand the urgency with which we need to sweep them out and replace them with strong institutionalised structures that will protect our democracy, our resources and strengthen our judiciary.

We need to shout out till we are hoarse and in pain for them to understand that it cannot be business as usual. We should all be clear that these are not lawmakers but ruthless businessmen in poor disguise.