In April, 2011, under the title, “The Criminality In The National Assembly,” we had cause to observe as follows:
“Whereas Section 70 of the 1999 Constitution unambiguously prescribes that ‘A member of the Senate or of the House of Representatives shall receive such salary and other allowances as the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission may determine,’ it is an open fact that members of the National Assembly, from the inception of the Fourth Republic, award to themselves such allowances that suit their interests. This culture of financial recklessness however attained its peak during the just-ended Sixth National Assembly.
For instance, whereas the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission approved as allowances N3,115,590 per quarter for a senator and N2,630,406 per quarter for a member of the House of Representatives, the national legislature, led by Senate President David Mark and Speaker Dimeji Bankole, unilaterally and illegally paid N45 million per quarter to each senator and N28 million per quarter to each member of the House of Representatives, alas before another increment was unilaterally and illegally approved in March, 2010.
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We recall that in June 2010, the Nigerian media was awash with damning expose on the financial recklessness of the National Assembly. Senate President David Mark was accused of collecting a total of N250 million each quarter; Deputy Senate President got N150 million every quarter. Each of the eight principal officers got a total of N78 million per quarter and each of the other senators received N45 million a quarter! What was more numbing was that these figures were not rebutted with verifiable facts.
If there was any doubt about financial criminality in the National Assembly, the statement issued by the former Speaker, Dimeji Bankole, shortly after his arrest by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) put such to rest. According to the statement, Bankole’s quarterly allowance before the increment in March, 2010 was N100 million while Deputy Speaker Nafada got N80 million per quarter. ‘The Minority Whip, Deputy Minority Leader, and Deputy Minority Whip (now elected as new Speaker) who had been receiving N36 million per quarter received an increment of N14 million to make up N50 million each, while the rest of the members got an increment of N14 million on the usual N28 million per quarter.’
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The statement added that, ‘The increment amounted to N5.012 billion per quarter and the loan was taken for two quarters amounting to N10.024 billion plus interest. The loan was taken pursuant to an executive session decision of the House on March 30, 2010, where the report of a 37-member Committee set up on March 25, 2010 to look into agitation of members for enhancement of running costs of members was reported by Independence Ogunewe.’
Again, beside the clear-cut brigandage of purchasing cars at inflated costs despite the monetization policy of the Federal Government, members of the just-ended Sixth National Assembly once more went on a binge by selling the cars to themselves at a rock bottom price, completely throwing overboard the due process of the law. There was no advertisement, tender nor any bidding process known to law.
This newspaper laments the scale of insensitivity consistently displayed by the federal legislature. Members of the National Assembly have, in the last twelve years, portrayed themselves as a bunch of unconscionable freeloaders and sadists who would rather take from the poor and give to the rich than enact laws to narrow the gap between the two classes in our society. The looting of national patrimony has now crossed the boundary of tolerance.
Little wonder that twelve years of civil rule could not produce any appreciable gains on the economic front. In spite of the humongous sums the nation has earned from the sale of crude oil since the return of democracy in 1999, unemployment, with attendant social consequences, continues to buffet the nation; de-industralisation, occasioned by infrastructural decay, continues without let or hindrance; and the country is not in any way moving any close to meeting the Millennium Development Goals, whose target date is only four years away.
Therefore, a nation that is overwhelmed by social problems needs to save every kobo in order to ameliorate the appalling conditions.
This newspaper calls on the National Assembly to obey the laws of the land and halt forthwith the unholy and illegal practice of appropriating the roles of the management of the National Assembly. Procurement and disposal of government properties are matters within the exclusive preserve of the NASS management. In the meantime, we call for the revocation of the sale of the cars and recovery of all monies illegally diverted to the pockets of the past legislators, while calling on the just-inaugurated National Assembly to tow the path of due process and constitutionalism in the conduct of its affairs.”
