What Nigerians expect from National Assembly

To quote from a popular song, “it is all over, but for the shouting”. We have a Senate President in Senator Bukola Saraki just as we do have a Speaker of the House of Representatives in Honourable Yakubu Dogara.Nothing concluded the matter as effectively as the tacit approval of President Muhammadu Buhari who indeed practiced […]

To quote from a popular song, “it is all over, but for the shouting”. We have a Senate President in Senator Bukola Saraki just as we do have a Speaker of the House of Representatives in Honourable Yakubu Dogara.
Nothing concluded the matter as effectively as the tacit approval of President Muhammadu Buhari who indeed practiced what he preached in his inaugural address, in those famous ten words – “I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody”. Against all Nigerian expectations, President Muhammadu Buhari accepted the outcome of the National Assembly elections, even as he pointed out he was in support of his party’s position on the matter. As President however, he belonged to the Party as much as he belonged to the dictates of the constitution.
 In congratulating Saraki and Dogara, one gives recognition to the fact that the duo gave proof of themselves in their delicate walk across the tightrope of Abuja politics, emerging victorious against all odds. Both men are seasoned law makers, each with his impressive political track record. As to their victories in the upheaval, there is no benefit to more analysis than we have read these past few days in view of the issues at hand. What seems important is that Nigerians have high expectations from the National Assembly that need to be urgently met.
 Buhari had said of them thus- “We shall charge them to apply themselves with integrity to stabilize the system”……. “For their part the legislative arm must keep to their brief of making laws, carrying out over-sight functions and doing so expeditiously…… It is only when the three arms act constitutionally that government will be enabled to serve the country optimally and avoid the confusion all too often bedeviling governance today”.
 Thus while President Muhammadu Buhari is concerned presently with that clear picture of the National baseline situation as his starting point, which informed the establishment of the Ahmed Joda Committee, and the long and patient waiting for the committee’s report, Nigerians expect the National Assembly to break free from the phantom pod of its past in the face of glaring hard realities. Today, not less than 19 states of the Federation are unable to pay the salaries of their civil services.
Unemployment is at its highest ebb ever, with resultant restiveness among the unemployed. The subjugation of the insurgency does not seem firm given the spate of bombings, killing raids and abductions still on going in the North East region. The enormity of the challenges are such that there has to be a national rethink on the cost of governance, to which the National Assembly under the leadership of Saraki and Dogara must take up responsible initiative.
Feelers from the Presidency indicate that the cabinet will be trim, and may not meet the provisions of the Constitution for individual state representation, owing to dire scarcity of resources. While one expects cooperation of the legislature, it is necessary to fully tackle the problem by ensuring an amendment of the Constitution in such a way as to make this necessity legal.
 Thus Saraki and Dogara from this onset, have a burden with regards to the remuneration of the lawmakers. Nigerians have for long criticized what they understand to be the annual remuneration of our lawmakers said to be the highest in the world. The angst expressed over the revelation that the National Assembly overheads alone is over 25% of our national budget has not subsided because there has never been any change to the high overheads. This upset is not helped by the recent publication that in continuation with the policy of monetization of benefits for legislators such as housing, furniture and wardrobes, the new National Assembly members are set to be paid a total of N9.5 billion upon their assumption of sitting within the month. According to the report, each member of House Representatives will receive N17.5 million, while each senator will receive about N21.5 million. The same report indicates that housing allowance for the political office holders is 200 per cent of their annual salaries; furniture is 300 per cent and motor vehicle loan is 400 per cent. Meanwhile each of 107 senators aside the Senate President and Deputy Senate President would be paid an annual N4, 052,800 million as housing allowance.
 For this to happen against the background of the cash crunch affecting states is simply immoral. States are faced with a drop of more than 30% of their statutory allocation, and hence can not pay salaries; it certainly does not sound good to the ear and our conscience that while civil servants can not receive their only means of livelihood, Legislators are collectively set to receive N9.5bn “wardrobe allowance”!
I think the National Assembly should stop, look, and listen for a review of its budget in consonance with current economic realities. One had hoped that President Muhammadu Buhari would formally convene the National Assembly and table before it a preliminary submission on cutting down of the cost of our democracy. I said a fortnight ago that “Nigeria has the most corrupt National Assembly, we must not fear to point this out. It has institutionalized extortion and blackmail of the executive. It is significant that the Buhari Presidency is fresh and presently untainted……… It seems that Nigerians desire that the emoluments of the National Assembly, and indeed State Assembly members are pegged to what the Revenue and Fiscal Mobilization Board has specified. Nigerians indeed desire that President Buhari subjects dealings with the National Assembly to public scrutiny enabled by exposure of all ploys to blackmail and extortion of the executive. Nigerians will use the initial attitude of the Buhari Presidency as a barometer for measuring the life to come. If legislators  maintain the same old culture of profligacy and pay themselves at this initial stage N9.5 billion “wardrobe allowance”, we can begin to say “ goodbye CHANGE”, or even “goodnight Nigeria”.
 Timawus Mathias
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