THE 8th National Assembly came to life in controversy. A stealthy move that resembled a coup d’etat, ushered in the Upper house, the Senate. That “Original Sin” has continued to dog senate till today. The House of Representatives had its own share of problems, but resolution was found to keep a lid on controversy, at least for now. The senate, like a punch-drunk boxer, has continued to literally sleep walk as different sides to its self-inflicted problems entrench themselves in their conflicting positions. But our dear legislators have a point that unites them, and that is their determination to continue to earn humungous sums of money, without sensitivity to the state of the nation’s economy. When they met in camera last week, they were unable to agree about cutting down the huge sums they take from Nigeria. The people’s representatives will not reduce their creature comfort. They will not give any ground in the demand to make sacrifice for the country. Our legislators must continue to get their over-sized cut of the Nigerian cake, even when Nigeria is in crisis.

The amazing thing about this is that the party of “CHANGE”, the APC carries the same DNA of greed as its opposite, the PDP, in the quest to take as much as possible from Nigeria.

Party supremacy

In the collective parliamentary resolve to fleece Nigeria, there are no appeals to “party supremacy”. Here all legislators have become “Like Minds”! There is no Chinese Wall dividing Bukola Saraki from Ahmed Lawan; Yakubu Dogara has no problem with Femi Gbajabiamila. They stand united in defence of their deep pockets and are collectively determined to take as much as possible from Nigeria. The slogan of CHANGE, cannot find traction with 360 representatives and 109 senators. And since they resumed on that controversial note on June 9th, according to @BudglTng, they only sat for a grand total of 15days! They have taken 12 weeks of recess; the 109 senators have collected N36. 4million each while the 360 representatives creamed off N25million each, amounting to N13billion. The principal officers collect more than their colleagues, meaning that Nigeria would have expended more than N13billlion on 469 legislators. In that period, they did NOT pass a single Bill!

The developments of the past 16 years have made it clear that the remuneration process amongst the nation’s political elite is clearly not sustainable. Nigeria is in the midst of a serious economic crisis but our so-called representatives are still determined to corner obscene cuts of the nation’s cake! There are poignant questions to ask about the legislature that sat for only fifteen days since June 9th, but enjoys a twelve-week recess while pocketing over N13billion. Should we not have a part time legislature as some have argued?

Or do we just pay them per sitting? And what is the relevance of a two tier National Assembly in a period of dwindling financial resources and the frankly wasteful nature of our parliament? More than at any point in Nigeria’s recent history, these questions have become very important and they need to be taken very seriously.