Milking democracy

They believe in it only to the extent to which it serves their selfish purposes. Breaches of the constitution, scandalous conducting of voting, unprincipled intrigue and fisticuffs has now become the order of the day. The political classes have overtaken the Road Transport Union agberos in brutal and bloody resolution of disputes.  It’s pretty clear […]

They believe in it only to the extent to which it serves their selfish purposes. Breaches of the constitution, scandalous conducting of voting, unprincipled intrigue and fisticuffs has now become the order of the day. The political classes have overtaken the Road Transport Union agberos in brutal and bloody resolution of disputes.  It’s pretty clear that the interest of average citizens is the last thing on the minds of major actors in all this hocus-pocus.
Nigeria’s preference for democracy and the expressed desire for it not to be truncated is more a reflection of the abysmal performance of the military in governance than due to any outstanding achievements under civilian rule. Our country has been aptly described as a rich nation full of poor people and the responsibility for this rests squarely with the political class. A recent report in Britain’s Economist Magazine revealed that they are milking our nation dry. The report expressed serious concern over the increasing cost of Nigerian democracy caused by the disproportionate remuneration of our Ministers, legislators and political appointees. As an example the report cited the fact that Members of the National Assembly are paid much more than their counterparts in every other African country. Despite Nigeria’s poor economy our political appointees are amongst the highest paid in the world!
 There have been two generally accepted historical highpoints for the Nigerian political classes namely the independence movement of the 1950’s and the pro-democracy movement of the 1990’s. Both were nurtured in the belief that we could somehow improve the lot of the common man if leadership was changed and democratic rule implemented. Fortunately both movements succeeded in changing the leadership and implementing democratic rule. Unfortunately neither succeeded in improving the lives of ordinary citizens. Whenever given the opportunity as was also the case in 1979 the political class has abandoned principles and fallen to the temptations of accumulating wealth by abuse of privileges and milking the treasury. It should come as no surprise that the major pre-occupation of the political class is personal enrichment. In our situation where political parties operate without guiding philosophies and elections are conducted without manifestoes politics is one of the few growth industries in the country where instant wealth beyond imagination is the reward for success. There is nothing other than mild apprehension over insipid EFCC investigation to keep politicians in check.
These days the name of the game is assuming office and reaping the personal rewards! The problem of jumbo pay for political office holders has been a recurring one ever since former Senate President Chuba Okadigbo made it clear legislators’ mission in Abuja was not to “spread poverty”. Paradoxically the exorbitant cost of government is now doing exactly that.  Economists are concerned over the opportunity costs of massive amounts of money being paid out that could and should have been used to develop infrastructure and stimulate the economy.
Any critical examination of the work load and concrete achievements of official and unofficial political office holders will conclude that the payments are offensively unjustifiable. Even more objectionable is the social behaviour of the political class whose extravagance has become internationally legendary. Renowned for frequent overseas travel, medical tourism, purchase of luxury goods and accommodation, overseas schooling for their children and “spraying” generously at public functions their lavish overindulgent multi-million naira celebrations of weddings, burials and anniversaries have become the norm. The current emoluments of political office holders have no bearing on the profile of the national economy and no correlation with the general wage structure of the different segments of the economy.
 They have become a class set apart. Clearly this is part of the reason why many people want to go into politics. In our democracy a successful public office holder can earn both legitimate and illegitimate income and astronomical allowances which are way and above commensurate with their work. Public office is no longer a call to service and sacrifice it is now the easiest means of wealth accumulation.  . A major reason why other nations are more developed is because it’s not possible for their lawmakers, ministers and political appointees to earn such huge amounts. The crux of the matter is the issue of “allowances”. In the good old days these were calculated as fractions of basic salary and expressed as percentages. The total sum of all allowances never exceeded 100% of the basic salary which simply meant that at best allowances could double a salary. Nowadays percentages are used to multiply!  For example accommodation allowance is 200% of basic salary!
These self determined allowances are used to elevate a political office holder on a basic salary of two million naira to a total income of over thirty million! Accompanying this waste is the poorly kept secret that most political office holders are major contractors who spend the bulk of their time pursuing other forms of income rather than performing their duties. There can be no doubt that our political office holders place to heavy a burden on the treasury. This is compounded when the drain on our resources by extravagant unconstitutional “first ladyism” is taken into consideration.  As a solution to the issue of jumbo pay it has been suggested that more economically sound basis for setting remuneration of political office holders would be to peg it to the national GDP. Other concerned citizens have suggested that many positions such as lawmakers, councillors, and advisers should be converted into part time appointments. More drastically some have suggested that we don’t actually require a bi-cameral legislature and either the Senate or House of Reps should be abolished.  It is imperative that some positive action is taken before it is too late. This burden must be reduced because it’s quite simply unsustainable.