There
are three major arms of government in any democratic terrain to include the
executive, legislature and the judiciary. The legislature, which is our subject
matter, is a group of people with the power to make and pass laws. We aren’t
unaware the crucial and inevitable role of law-making in every existing country
across the globe, hence Nigeria isn’t an exception.
Nigeria operates a bicameral system of
legislature, whereby the country’s legislative responsibilities are shared
among two separate assemblies. They are regarded as the Upper (Red) and Lower
(Green) Chambers otherwise called the Senate and the Federal House of
Representatives, respectively.
It’s noteworthy that a bill can
originate from either chambers but cannot become law until it has been duly
passed by both as well as assented to by the President. However,
constitutionally, the Legislature can override the President’s veto, if both
assemblies agree to do so with a two-third majority vote of its overall members
after thirty days.
In recent times, many in various
quarters have opined that the bicameral legislative mode being operated in
Nigeria is an epitome of bureaucracy. According to them, the system has
bedevilled the country’s financial status. This has overtime ensued tremendous
debates among concerned citizens both home and in the Diaspora.
It seems the set of Nigerians with the
above notion was vindicated penultimate week. In the period in review, during
his interaction with the TheNews Magazine, the lawmaker representing Kaduna
Central Senatorial District, Senator Shehu Sani reportedly disclosed that each
of the legislators in the Red Chamber goes home every month with N13.5 million
as ‘running cost’ allowance. He further informed that that was in addition to
the N750,000 monthly consolidated salary coupled with other allowances the
senators invariably receive.
It’s worthy of note that ever since
the shocking revelation was publicly made, the colleagues of the whistle blower
have began to condemn such an abrupt gesture. In their words, they could not
expect Sen. Sani to act as the Spokesman of the Senate let alone ‘misinforming’
the people. Having claimed that the notice was false and unfounded, they feared
that it could make their respective constituents lose their trust in them.
It is apparent that Sen. Sani who is a
well known activist may have spoken against the wish of his colleagues. Little
wonder they reacted in a displeased mood, stating that the said legislator had
brought his ‘silly’ activism cause to the Senate. But, the question is; why did
they think it wise to refute such information that bears an element of truism?
Does it imply that they are not only seeing Sen. Sani as a ‘silly activist’ but
an insane lawmaker?
This is exactly reminding me of the
case of Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin who sometime ago equally blew a whistle in the
legislature, the Green Chamber though. At the time, Hon. Jibrin disclosed that
the country’s 2017 budget was ‘padded’ by his fellow legislators. In
consequence to the unexpected avowal, his colleagues ganged up against him and
subsequently succeeded in suspending the poor lawmaker who was seemingly
standing alone.
In the same vein, Sen. Sani’s
colleagues are ostensibly making a frantic move on how to silence him. They are
perhaps of the view that relegating the whistle blower to the background would
enable them to discredit his confession. Whatever move they intend to make,
they ought to acknowledge that the actual figure, which has long been shrouded
in secrecy, has eventually been divulged.
A discussion has been on that some persons
venture into politics for service whilst a few others do so for self. I cannot
concur less with the belief that several Nigerians participate in the
aforementioned profession for the sake of the latter. This is the reason, for
instance, a lawmaker having collected his/her constituency allowance, rather
than using the fund for what it is meant for, would end up siphoning it into
his personal purse.
Our politicians are really taking
advantage of the civil servants. In other words, the former is obviously
cheating the latter. How could one reconcile the fact that a lawmaker that sits
at intervals and also goes on a recess is entitled to a bogus monthly allowance
of N13.5m or thereabouts while a civil servant that works on a daily basis receives
a minimum wage of N18,000? No wonder a Nigerian politician, on the average, is
apparently ready to kill just to win an election.
Each day, we are being reminded that Nigeria
is passing through recession, yet the pay package of a certain group of workers
is enough to revive the country’s moribund refineries as well as resuscitate
her dying institutions. The acknowledgement of such occurrence does not in any
way bring hope for the weary citizenry. Hence, the time has arrived for us to
take our future into our hands.
The public servants, particularly the
political leaders, must take into cognizance that they were only mandated to
plough our land, and not to plunder it. Think about it!
Comrade Fred Nwaozor
Executive Director, Docfred Resource Hub (DRH) - Owerri
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Twitter: @mediambassador
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