The recommendation by the national conference that legislators at both national and state levels should function on a part-time basis to drastically reduce the cost of governance, is another vindication of those who accuse Nigerian leaders of being excessively wasteful and insensitive to the deplorable condition of the citizens. It is also a pointer to the monumental corruption in which Nigeria swims. Indeed, there is a compelling need to rethink the form and content of the legislature. Given apprehensions about the continued survival of the country beyond 2015, there is no better time, in the history of this country, than now, for the National Assembly to begin the remediation process by self-purge and penitence in terms of reviewing its outlandish packages which rank it among the highest paid in the world. It is only by such power of personal examples that the legislature can regain the moral high ground and be alive to its responsibility as the peoples’ representatives. And it must be emphasized that Nigeria’s national income cannot sustain the gluttony of its lawmakers.
The national conference Committee on Public Service chaired by former Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Ebele Okeke, has recommended a review of the salaries of lawmakers to ensure they are “comparable with what obtains in other arms of the public service.” A federal government delegate at the conference, Chief Mike Ozekhome, put the issue in perspective noting that: “In America, they have 435 members in the House of Representatives and 100 Senators because in population they are 316 million people. “Texas and California alone are bigger than the whole of Nigeria. So we don’t necessarily have to imitate them. We need to have a leaner government. It is either we have a unicameral legislature or if it must be bicameral, then they have to sit on a part-time basis and be paid honorarium.” When delegates were called to vote on the issue, there was a unanimous agreement that the legislative arm of government should operate on a part-time basis; and payment of pension, life insurance and severance pay for legislators, where they exist, should be cancelled in line with global best practices.
It would be edifying if this proposal went beyond grandstanding intended for an audience already overwhelmed by bad governance. For sure, the outlandish entitlements of Nigerian lawmakers amount to impunity and there is danger in riding roughshod over the people. The grudge of Nigerians is that government spends too much money on itself and its unwarranted indulgences. Whereas when the basic interest of ordinary Nigerians is involved, or any project that will impact on the lives of an average citizen, government’s disposition in most cases is that there is no money. Nigerian lawmakers at both the state and national levels have demonstrated an embarrassing propensity for profligacy, often adding insult to injury; by not only refusing to disclose their exact salaries, they even justify their sumptuous pay with the so-called “enormous national duty”, the non-performance of which is their signature.
The National Assembly has proven that it can hardly be trusted in its claim as the representative of the people. Their jumbo pay is, to say the least, the height of insensitivity, and demonstrate the absolute disconnect between the lawmakers and their constituents. Nigerian legislators must be residing in another planet not to appreciate the well-known fact that they are the highest paid in the world. Unjustifiably so! One wonders what duty these (dis)honorable members are discharging to warrant an annual appropriation of about N150 billion! The reality of their performance is even a greater embarrassment: empty seats during sessions, merry-go-round on non-conclusive inquiries which are often turned into rent-seeking exercises.
It is even more scandalous that they are paid sumptuously for the sinecure they call responsibility. They are the recipient of unimaginable allowances outside basic salaries, including foreign and local travel, recess, utilities, furniture, constituency allowance; vehicle loan as well as vehicle maintenance among others. Also, it is the practice that under the pretext of statutory transfer the National Assembly are allocated huge sums which details are not made public. They enjoy these privileges for doing nothing and against the backdrop of a minimum wage of N18000 for an average worker, unpaid public servants, millions of jobless graduates who roam the streets and increasing social crises. The unimpressive recurrent expenditure in the 2014 budget is overweighed by the salacious outlay on the legislators. The end result is that nothing is left for capital expenditure.
The 2014 budget is a shame. It is unlikely that a National Assembly that feels the pulse of the nation would see the construction of restaurant, banquet hall, fitness room and places of worship as important at a time when death attributable to hunger and water-borne diseases such as cholera and dysentery is still in this century, part of the national tragedy, while infant mortality remains relatively high in the country. This crass misplacement of priority happens in the face of debilitating infrastructural decay and poor funding which has continually emasculated and incapacitated the educational and health sectors. In fact, every critical sector of the country needs a lifeline; an obligation government has found difficult to discharge supposedly on account of lack of resources, while legislators earn outrageous salaries. Why such a wide dichotomy between living standards of ordinary citizens and those in government? Is it no longer the case that government exists for the people? Can a government that lavishes so much money on the welfare of its lawmakers to the exclusion of its citizens genuinely claim to be a government of the people, by the people and for the people, which is the simple definition of democracy or what it stands for in practical terms?
Against the background of major changes within the international political economy, it is important for Nigerian leaders to appreciate the need for prudence. The advent of shale gas has altered the energy equation internationally. Countries which have been the major importers of Nigerian oil such as the USA have begun the process of reducing their imports, while energy companies are trading off their oil blocks to exit Nigeria; and China, a major new bride, has made a promising find in shale gas. The need to save for a future without oil therefore demands prudence and a legislature made up of fat cats derogates from this imperative.Now that the national conference has formally made the recommendation, steps towards reform must be backed by the need to reduce legislative reward to merely sitting allowance without a basic salary component and it should be structured to be part-time and streamlined into one chamber. Nigeria does not need a bicameral legislature. It is a waste of public funds. Nigeria can emulate the example of Senegal which reverted to a unicameral legislature to save resources for other compelling development goals, and Nigerians will be the better for it. With deepening impunity, Nigerian lawmakers continue to betray the country by their refusal to lead by example as exemplified by the drain they have become on the nation’s resources and their opulent lifestyles.
