EDITORIAL

NASS’s Red Flag [to Continuous Resource Rape ...July 2, 2011

The utterance reported to have come from the Senate President should be a cause for concern for every observant Nigerian who wishes to do away with politics of self-enrichment as against genuine all inclusive development for the benefit of every citizen of the country.  It appears from what Senator David Mark was reported to have uttered that instead of mending its way forward, NASS has resolved to continue on its old path of overpaying itself to the detriment of the country’s deteriorating institutions, most especially health, education, energy, industrial capacity etc.

The Senate President David Mark was reported to have said, during the Ministerial confirmation hearings yesterday that “the Senate will no longer allow some government agencies including the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and similar agencies to spend public funds without appropriation.”   We take that to mean that the senator is issuing a threat openly to the Governor of Central Bank, as well as any other well-meaning Nigerian who “dares” to expose NASS’s overindulgence.

The Daily Trust of Friday July 1, 2011 reported that the returning Senate President Mark [reinstated to the same post he held during the previous session before elections] told his colleagues that “I want to assure you that we allowed them this time but, I want to say that it will never happen again.”

Mr. Mark appears to be stressing a point hammered first by the Chair of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Ayo Adeseun, who in May 2011 defended the outrageous salaries and allowances of Nigerian legislators. Mr. Adeseun, who was ‘reelected’ on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) during the last election to represent Oyo Central in the senate was reported to have said; in addition, that Nigerians should be ready to bear the cost if they truly desire a working democracy. “Democracy is not cheap. Democracy is very expensive. But the product of the expense is what the people should focus on,” he was reported to have said.

The question is what product of democracy is he talking about?  Was he referring to the growing resource gap between the rich and poor, or the growing insecurity that continues to take innocent lives of people on the road, in their houses, hospitals etc.  Or should we judge NASS performance on the continued deterioration of the nation’s schools, the rising unemployment, the inability to provide the necessary energy to run the nation’s industries etc, etc, etc. ?  Except for the ones who live a life of luxury such as NASS and other highly placed government office holders close to the federal purse, immuned from the hustle and bustle of daily life, how can anyone even begin to justify such outrageous salary, by pointing the ‘dividends of democracy.” Where in the world are the dividends?

If there are institutions in Nigeria who are openly operating in retrogressive fashion, putting the lives of millions of Nigerians in peril, it should be clear that it is the Legislative and Executive chambers.  The duo not only refuse to mend their outrageous spending on themselves away from genuine development, they have failed to take care of business as they should.  If you should rate their performance on a scale, applicable to other nations of the world, they may score a D-.  Yet they are arguably the world’s highest paid public servants.   In the U S, the world’s largest economy legislators are paid this year an annual salary equivalent to 27 million Naira [a year].

So the writing is clearly there on the wall for all to see. Nigerian should take care of themselves as their leaders are saying in a nut shell they are not ready to take care of them.  They care only for themselves.  The message from NASS is they see nothing wrong with their ways, and everyone who sees anything wrong should go and bite the dust.

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