The lingering public angst and protests aimed at the jugular of the 8th National Assembly (NASS) members over recent reports that they, alongside in-coming ministers that would serve under the President Muhammadu Buhari government, would share N9 billion annually from the moment they step into office, can be interpreted from varying standpoints. Among them is the utter contempt with which the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMFAC), the government agency that fixes the wages and allowances of political office occupants and hikes same as it pleases, holds Nigerians. It also buttresses the gross insensitivity of not just RMFAC, a body more reputed for its unflattering, generous award of questionable pay package to political office holders than mobilizing funds; but that of the beneficiaries themselves, to the plights of ordinary Nigerians, though they may grovel before the electorate, most times dishonestly, to get elected into office.
More pathetic perhaps, is the impression created that even in grinding austere times, the federal and state governments and the majority of Nigerians now find themselves, most public office holders still want to stick to their blissful and profligate lifestyles, circulating themselves from one public office to the other possibly unto death; and being buried at the expense of the state, no matter how much they contributed to the growth or retrogression of the nation throughout their public callings. This is without prejudice to the platitudes of a downward review of the perks of office, or the counter-claims by some lawmakers who felt embarrassed by reports concerning the N9bn largesse.
The hint of the extent of perfidy ascribable to the NASS as an arm of government came in 1999, shortly after it was convened when the nation embraced democracy. Reports yet undisputed had it that in 1999, senators and members of the House of Representatives initially proposed N5 million and N4 million respectively, as furniture allowances for themselves. Following public outcry, however, former President Olusegun Obasanjo forced them to reduce the bills to N3.5m and N2.5m, respectively, for the upper and lower chambers. But they allegedly passed through the back door to pocket the N5m and N4m they originally aimed at.
Indeed, on what moral pedigree can a NASS, whose members are allergic to making public the exact amount they earn monthly, quarterly or annually; a NASS described as one of the highest paid globally, stand to discredit the N9bn largesse report? Can anything be fingered between 1999 and the present day concerning what anyone can rightly and sincerely adjudge as a significant change in the moral orientation and perfidies of NASS, except the relative stability of its leadership in recent years under Senator David Mark as Senate President? It was by sheer providence that Rep Aminu Tambuwal, now Sokoto State governor, completed his term as the Speaker of the just rested 7th House of Representatives.
Reports say each of the nation’s 109 senators would, this time around, stroll away with N21.5m; and each of the 360 House of Representatives’ members with N17.5m. Housing allowance for political office holders is 200 percent of their annual salaries; furniture allowance 300 percent; motor vehicle loan 400 percent; et cetera; all running into millions of naira, many of them on annual basis for a term of four years. What a nation!
Not to be forgotten is the fact that many of the beneficiaries are not just coming onboard. A great number of them have been sustained by the political system for years. Indeed, which nation on earth that preaches equity and justice would be accommodative of the level of injustice and public suffering amidst partying by elected public officers that has been festering in Nigeria since 1999? Ours is a country where millions of citizens are mired in abject poverty and starvation; where most of the 36 state governments cannot afford to pay N18, 000 as minimum wage to workers, and where workers are being owed several months backlog of unpaid salaries, purportedly occasioned by dipping crude oil prices? Infrastructure provisioning remains a distant wish, while the economy stagnates.
Capital expenditure has never exceeded 25 percent of annual budgets; and even the 25 percent target is hardly met, year-in-year-out. We believe this is not the kind of change President Buhari, well-meaning members of the NASS and even some state governors envisaged. Hopefully too, they understand the nation’s mood and would move swiftly to douse public rage. The courage of civil society organizations to rise up and protest against the grave injustice also deserves high commendation.
