The resolve of the National Assembly to proceed with the acquisition of luxury Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) for its members, despite public outcry, is condemnable and highly insensitive to the poor economic plight of most Nigerians, the downturn of the country’s economy and the mood of the nation. To that extent, the plan of the lawmakers falls far short of the dictates of democracy and does not portray the legislature as representing the people in the true sense of the word. In a futile attempt to justify the lawmakers’ plan, spokesperson of the House of Representatives, Akin Rotimi, claimed that the proposal is in accordance with extant procurement laws and has been the practice in previous assemblies. In his words: “The vehicles to be allocated to the offices of honourable members are utility operational vehicles tied to their oversight functions in the discharge of their duties in the standing committees. They are not personal vehicles gifted to honourable members.”
Mr. Rotimi further asserted that lawmakers can only perform their oversight functions independently of the Executive with “functional and reliable off-road vehicles. The vehicles are work tools and not status symbols – Honourable Members are diligent and patriotic elected representatives.” Corroborating this stance, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Services, Sunday Karimi, questioned why Nigerians were silent on the numerous expensive vehicles officially allocated to ministers. As he puts it: ‘‘They [the department of procurement in the National Assembly] approved a Land Cruiser for us and somebody that is a minister will have three Land Cruisers, Prado and other vehicles in their convoy, and you are not asking them questions. Please spare us a bit. Go to Nigerian roads today. If I go home once to my Senatorial district, I come back spending a lot on my vehicles because our roads are bad.’’
It is not clear which is more insulting to the common intelligence and sensibility of Nigerians; the plan to purchase vehicles reportedly valued at N160 million each amid a nationwide economic downturn; or the watery defence of the same by the above-named legislators. For the same people who brusquely rejected cheaper options of sedan and saloon cars to now claim that their SUVs preference is not actuated with egocentric sentiments is beyond hypocrisy. Also, making allusions to the convoys of ministers begs the question. Is the legislature trying to compete with its executive counterpart over excessive expenditure of Nigeria’s scarce resources? Is the complaint about the poor state of Nigerian roads not self-indicting? Are SUVs the only means of carrying out the purported oversight functions? Given the fact that Nigeria is still plagued with death trap roads, epileptic power supply, poor healthcare facilities, ill-equipped institutions of learning, and other basic amenities deficiencies; can it then be doubted that the legislature has woefully failed in its oversight duties?
At a time when the nation is substantially run on borrowed funds and 130 million Nigerians (constituting 63 per cent of the population) are living in multidimensional poverty due to bad governance, one item that should not form part of any legislative discourse is wastage. The National Assembly should be proffering solutions on how to revamp an economy it largely contributed to its decline via its exorbitant budgetary allocations and failure to effectively check the excesses of the Executive.
The intended action suffers from incurable legal, moral, and social bankruptcy; hence should be jettisoned forthwith! It raises moral concern for lawmakers to seek to purchase foreign vehicles, instead of patronising local automobile manufacturing companies, which will not only improve the motoring industry, but it also help to strengthen the country’s ailing currency. Many of the congressmen are either returning lawmakers or ex-governors/ministers who have repeatedly benefitted from luxurious official cars (which they mostly convert to personal use when leaving office). It therefore defies logic to keep allocating new expensive cars to the same set of people every four years. Since they are well-capacitated, they should make the ‘sacrifice’ of purchasing their desired vehicles out-of-pocket. After all, Nigerians have been charged to renew hope in the face of austerity; therefore, political officeholders should be willing to endure inconvenience like the people they claim to represent; and to be servant leaders.
The social contract between the government and the people is well enshrined in Section 14(2)(a) of the 1999 Constitution as follows: “It is hereby, accordingly, declared that sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria from whom government through this Constitution derives all its powers and authority.” In a representative government, the will of the people should prevail at all times because they are the organic power holders. Strangely, in spite of rational public objection, the national legislators remain adamant about their bid to acquire the SUVs. Not only does this betray their zero-integrity quotient, it also shows a disconnect between them and the people they represent.
Most importantly, the proposed SUVs allocation runs afoul of the provision of Section 84(1) of the Constitution. The stated section empowers the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to determine the salaries and allowances of all public officers. In the discharge of this responsibility, RMAFC publishes details of the remuneration package for political, public, and judicial office holders from time to time. As captured in the last list published in 2007, members of the National Assembly (as well as ministers) are not entitled to operational vehicles, but rather an optional car loan (repayable before the expiration of tenure) not exceeding 400 per cent of their annual basic salaries. Also, by virtue of the said publication, a senator gets an annual basic salary of N2.02 million while a representative gets N1.9 million. Therefore, senators are only entitled to a car loan of not more than N8.1 million, which is 400 per cent of their basic salary. By the same calculation, Representatives can maximally draw a car loan not exceeding N7.9 million.
It bears reiterating that only RMAFC is imbued with the constitutional power to fix the total remuneration package of all public officers. As evidenced in its latest report, lawmakers are not entitled to operational vehicles either as of right or privilege. The question, therefore, is where did the National Assembly derive the power to allocate operational vehicles to its members? This unconstitutional practice evolved from the characteristic impunity and rascality of public officers. The fact that it has festered for long is a direct consequence of Nigeria’s systemic corruption.
Despite possessing abundant natural and human resources, Nigeria may remain a potentially great country and the poverty capital of the world if the present style of governance is sustained. Sadly, those constitutionally saddled with the responsibility of protecting the national treasury are busy pilfering the same with reckless abandon. Even if the parliamentarians had been entitled to operational cars, would it not have been more honourable to waive their right to the same considering the prevailing economic circumstances? It is insensitive, unconscionable, and dishonourable for them to insist on such illegal luxury at a time when the quality of life of common Nigerians is depreciating rapidly. How long will Nigerians suffer for the inefficiency of those in power?
Nigerians need to activate their supervisory role over their elected representatives. They should desist from the slavish attitude of singing the praise of politicians whenever they are fed with the crumbs of office. Rather, they need to constructively engage their representatives and demand nothing short of good representation. Fortunately, the position of the general public on the instant matter is unanimous. Nigerians are vehemently opposed to the purchase of operational vehicles for federal legislators. The National Assembly should jettison the plan as it lacks the validation of the constitution and the people.
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