Federal legislators in the National Assembly have often come under criticism for sundry accusations ranging from indolence, lack of depth in legislative functions, absenteeism to arranging mind boggling remunerations for themselves.
The remunerations seem to draw the most ire of the populace, prompting charges of conspiracy of silence among the lawmakers for refusal to disclose their earnings which fuelled speculations about varying amounts bandied as take-home pay of the legislators.
However, the speculations were laid to rest recently when one of the senators, Shehu Sani, representing Kaduna central senatorial district, broke rank to announce the monthly package of the senators.
According to him, each senator earns a basic monthly consolidated salary of N750,000 and monthly running cost of N13.5 million bringing the total monthly package to N14,250,000.
Since that revelation, individuals and interest groups have literally been up in arms against the senators, and for good reason. In an economy where the minimum wage is N18,000 per month, we consider it unconscionable that senators can smile to the bank every month to collect N14.2 million, equivalent to over 60 years salary of a minimum wage earner!
Senator Sani in an interview with the BBC after the disclosure had stated : ‘’The National Assembly is one of the most non transparent organs of government. It pricked my conscience and I decided to burst the bubble and open the National Assembly to public scrutiny. It was a moral issue’’. Morality, for most of the legislators, is on recess.
Over the years, the issue of salaries and allowances of National Assembly members have been controversial and drawn vitriolic criticism. In 2010, then governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, ignited national uproar when he disclosed that 25 percent of the overhead cost of federal government goes to the National Assembly.
The London-based Economist magazine in 2012 stated that Nigerian lawmakers are the second highest paid globally. During the 7th National Assembly which ran from 2011 to 2015, the yearly budget of the institution was put at N150 billion.
The outrageous claim of the National Assembly on the public treasury is unsustainable and necessary actions should be taken to rectify the situation.
We believe it is gross dereliction of responsibility on the part of the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission (RMFAC) , with the mandate to fix salaries and allowances of public office holders , for failing to rein in the financial excesses of the National Assembly as exhibited by its unilateral fixing of salaries and allowances for its members.
Given the bloated number of National Assembly members, consideration should be given to suggestions for a single chamber National Assembly to reduce cost, in terms of numbers as well as cut the remunerations to reduce its attraction as a honey pot.
It is instructive that senator Sani had offered similar suggestion when he observed: “If the expensive payment system was ended, then parliament would only be attractive to people who contribute ideas”. Many senators are not just bereft of ideas, they are truants and on the occasions they attend sessions, many snooze away, reinforcing the charge of indolence.
We, however, recognise the unceasing financial demands on National Assembly members by their various constituents who see Abuja residents as those living in Nigeria’s El-dorado .
But the flamboyant lifestyle of senators, flushed with easy money, is reason for this perception which puts intense pressure on them as constituents demand their share of the ‘national cake’.
A House of Representative member, Jagaba Adams Jagaba, had asked that the public should also demand what ministers and their aides earn as salaries and allowances.
However, the National Assembly is a most significant institution in a democracy given its strategic functions of control of appropriation of funds from the public purse and oversight function on how the executive spend such appropriated funds.
We, therefore, consider it an infantile argument for the National Assembly to seek refuge over its humongous, financial self- indulgence by finger pointing. A financially sanitised National Assembly is the first step in ensuring prudence in government spending of our common patrimony.
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