Being honourably dishonourable

If, however, you further require the person to have no scruples; no discernible principles; hardly ever tell the truth; and be irredeemably corrupt, then you are well advised to skip the majority of us and track down a Nigerian who prefixes their name with the word “Honourable”! Throughout the world the prefix “The Honourable” or […]

If, however, you further require the person to have no scruples; no discernible principles; hardly ever tell the truth; and be irredeemably corrupt, then you are well advised to skip the majority of us and track down a Nigerian who prefixes their name with the word “Honourable”! Throughout the world the prefix “The Honourable” or “The Right Honourable” is given to high level political office-holders and used only during their tenure of office. In most nations, members of parliament or the legislature are referred to as “The Honourable Member” when the house is in session.
There are, of course, exceptions (e.g. Australia where the prefix “the Honourable” is not used for legislators). In Nigeria, however, not only has “the” been dropped, but every political office-holder at whatever insignificant level tenaciously hangs on to the prefix and insists on being referred to as “Ono-rayble” even in death! The word honourable is not Nigerian, it’s English and has to do with people and actions that are honest, fair and worthy of respect. Honourable people don’t cheat, don’t commit fraud or deception, firmly believe in the truth, and always do the right thing by conforming to standards of principled behaviour and character. When holding political office they are impartial, honest, and God-fearing in the discharge of their duties, but Nigerian “Honourables” are the exact opposite.
Their dishonourable behaviour includes (but is not limited to) accepting bribes for oversight functions, influencing the award of contracts, buying government property through the backdoor at knockdown prices, approving scandalous allowances and fringe benefits for themselves, and receiving financial inducements to pass legislation or move impeachment notices. All of which continues to have a devastating impact on our socio-economic and political development. Dishonourable behaviour by “Honourable” sabotages elections, undermines the rule of law, and impedes responsible governance thereby playing a major role in the reduction in economic growth and investment in Nigeria.
The majority of our widespread socio-economic problems have their roots in the total ineffectiveness of, and corruption in, the various state and national legislatures. Houses of Assembly are constitutionally positioned to facilitate effective governance and ensure the delivery of public goods and services by checking corrupt practices and authoritarian tendencies on the part of the executive. They are responsible for guaranteeing strict adherence to constitutionalism and the rule of law.
The state of the various legislatures of a nation at any particular point in time is a significant pointer to the strength of the bond between the government and its citizens. In Nigeria this bond is broken and our “Honourables” appear completely oblivious to the damage caused our democracy by their incessant dishonourable behaviour. Since 1999 it has been one long sorry story. Bearing in mind their past tomfooleries, recent scandals and on-going antics in Edo, Adamawa and Rivers States Houses of Assembly, it appears as if we have become accustomed to dishonourable behaviour by “Honourable”.
All the unnecessary diversions, drama, fisticuffs, wasted security resources, litigations, squandering of money and failure to enact meaningful legislation is somehow accepted as the “Nigerian way”. There is an embarrassment of proven sleaze and plethora of un-investigated allegations which makes Nigeria the legislative scandal capital of the world.  Citizens have become quite rightly cynical about the integrity of lawmakers and their ability to enact meaningful laws to uplift and advance our society both materially and morally. Our chaotic and inexcusable situation gets lamentably worse as we begin to face up to the consequences of their dishonourable conduct and inaction on critical issues.
The current political landscape is overshadowed by widespread illegalities, suppression of political opposition, financial impro-priety, intra-party intrigue, electoral malpractices, blatant violation of human rights, and general insecurity of lives and properties. This sorry state of affairs is being perpetuated by the noxious combination of political corruption in the executive and dishonourable behaviour in the legislatures.
This disastrous mix perverts democratic values of accountability, transparency and probity, and undermines our right to the enjoyment of a better life by denying us all the benefits of nationhood and citizenry. In the National Assembly legislators have been repeatedly berated for their dishonourable practices. Those “Honourables” saddled with oversight functions are continuously linked with financial scandals, while disgraceful scenes of free-for-all fighting in the hallowed chambers have been beamed all over the world. No amount of reasoning has been able to persuade them to act honourably and limit their budget to the constitutionally approved upper limits of remunerations recommended and published by the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).  
Apart from mindlessly hiking up their bogus allowances and amounts collected for “constituency projects”, “Honourables” scheme up many other underhand illegalities to ensure that they are among the highest earning representatives of the people in the world. All this in a situation where the majority of citizens are among the world’s poorest and survive below the poverty line. It is nonsense to believe this form of democracy can ever foster good governance based upon probity and social justice. The National Assembly stubbornly refuses to break down their recently contrived lump-sum “statutory transfers” budget which is designed purely to shield their dishonourable behaviour from public scrutiny.
Ironically even the “Honourables” themselves agree that issues of endemic political and legislative corruption, and dishonourable behaviour of individuals are core to government’s failure to ensure adequate delivery of public goods and services which citizens are entitled to and which the nation can afford. It is quite clear that the only way we will ever overcome our socio-economic problems of endemic poverty, massive unemployment, de-industrialization, ethnic and religious tensions, decadent infrastructure, and widening income inequality is for our “Honourables” to change their ways and live up to the appellation by acting truly honourably.