President of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof Emmanuel Osodeke has faulted democracy being practised in Nigeria, saying the system only benefits few people who are, or have been, at the corridors of political power and their cronies.
He said it is disheartening that the situation has remained the same or even worse from one administration to another in the last unbroken 24 years of democratic governance in Nigeria.
He lamented the situation more so that the poor masses, according to him, still hero-worship the political leaders, who impoverished them rather than to hold them accountable for their actions and inactions including their campaign promises.
Osodeke gave these perceptions in an exclusive interview with Nigerian Tribune, saying what makes the situation worse is that Nigeria’s democracy makes the cost of governance too high.
According to him, it is not that democracy is a bad system but Nigeria does not practice it to favour the majority of people like it is being practiced in the United States where it copied the system from.
Osodeke said, the cost of keeping political office holders in the US, particularly the lawmakers, is not as high as that of their Nigerian counterparts.
According to him, in the US with bicameral legislatures, both senators and members of the House of Representatives do not collect humongous salaries and allowances. They collect only sitting allowances.
“But here in Nigeria, which is not as rich as the US, our lawmakers, particularly at the national level, go home with humongous salaries and all sorts of allowances.
“They still make money again from constituency projects and other avenues, all at the expense of the government.
“Many of them don’t even bother to go to work all the time as we do see empty seats during their sittings and yet they collect all kinds of allowances.
He declared that Nigeria makes its democracy juicy in such a way that the budget of the National Assembly all together is about 10 times of the budget of all the public universities in the country.
Explaining this, he said what one Senator earns monthly as allowance for example is more than what the Federal Government gives to the entire University of Lagos or University of Ibadan or University of Nigeria, Nsukka, or Ahmadu Bello University Zaria or Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife which are first generation universities in the country as their running cost.
“It is just about N11 million that each of these universities get from the government as running costs and we all know how much each Senator in Nigeria earns monthly,” he stressed.
He said that is why many of them consider the race to get to power as do-or-die affairs.
Osodeke also faulted the practice whereby one political office holder having so many special aides and officers in the name of democracy to satisfy their political associates and supporters, saying the practice is really draining Nigeria’s purse.
He said it is not that the president or governor could do the job all alone, but that they should appoint only aides for critical assignments and not aides with no clear or overlapping duties.
“So, we must cut cost of political governance as a country and also hold the leaders accountable for their actions and inactions.
“That is the way for us to progress as a country,” he said.
