LAW-MAKERS JUMBO TAKE-HOME PAY

By Sam Onimisi

The legislative arm of government consists of two chambers: the Federal House of Representatives and the Senate. While the House has 360 members, the Senate has 109. In all, the National Assembly has 469 members.

Reliable sources has it that as at May 2010, each member of the House takes home some N35,000,000 every quarter of 3 months while Senators carts home some N45,000,000 for the same period. By simple arithmetic, each House member takes home N140,000,000 per annum and each Senator, the sum of N180,000,000 per year. These does not include assorted allowances which also runs into millions of naira.

What it means is that for them agreeing to make law for us, Nigerian tax-players must cough out N50,400,000,000 billion for House members and N19,080,000,000 billion for Senators, a sum total of N69,480,000,000 billion per year! This pay regime makes the Nigerian Legislature one of the most costly in the world – in fact, it is the right place for every greedy political aspirant.

However, service delivery both in quality and quantity is about the worst in the world. Samples? Cross carpeting which was illegal and immoral is now legalized and legitimate in the wisdom of our law-makers. To them, it is not robbery to run election on the platform of one party and after being elected, you cross over to another party, thereby rubbishing the mandate given to you by a different party.

In fact, they made a futile attempt to make Nigeria a one-party State, until they were shouted out of order before they backed down. Now, while trying to decree a two-party system into existences, they placed impossible hurdles on the path of independent candidates which they pretend to have approved.

Both chambers of the National Assembly is controlled by one party with over two-third majority, which makes it easy to pass anything into law any time they so desire. Lacking in courage and principle, led by greed and gluttony, even many law-makers of opposition parties are the leading lights of these obnoxious laws. What this means is that they are ready to cross over to PDP now that cross – carpeting is made legal.

As if these iniquities are not odius enough, our law-makers now want to divest the political parties the little annual subvention of N6,000,000 million per annum. There are about 54 registered parties in Nigeria, and even if there are 60 political parties, the annual subvention to them is a paltry sum of N360,000,000 per annum. Dear readers, this amount is a miserable 0.6% of what the 469 law-makers take home per year. In the perverse wisdom of our lawmakers, the country must save N360 million naira in order to kill opposition parties and so make Nigerian a one – party state – while not saying so in words.

In comparison, a political party consists of its National Executive Committee, National Working Committee and members across the length and breath of Nigeria. By law, parties are expected to be nationally spread and to have state chapters in at least 24 states of the country. Political parties provides platform to aspirants to political offices and as such, they are agents of change to the society. They alerts the voting public of the hidden agenda of the ruling party, the defects in every proposed public policy or programme and so, puts government on their toes. They challenge unjust legislations and informs the public of their negative implications. They enlighten their members and the general public of their rights and privileges as citizens of Nigeria. They fight for their members who may fall victims of unjust laws and inhuman actions of government and its agencies. They mobilize their members for voters registration exercise and prepare them ready for elections. They publicize their manifestoes and programmes so as to convince voters of their desirability. They provide voters and aspirants with alternative choices which is a cardinal issue in multi-party democracy. Above all, they give practical expression to the universal law of freedom of association which enables individuals who are aggrieved with their parties to choose another party to give vent to their ideas and ideologies. These among many others, are what political parties stands for and does.

But the PDP as the current ruling party wants to deprive Nigerians of alternate choices while helping itself from the public treasury. If parties are deprived of subvention, the only beneficiary will be the PDP whose members in government and in parliament earns billions of naira as elected and appointed public officials. If this is not a monopoly, nothing else is. Even if the PDP only takes their funding from their appointed and elected officials who are paid from public coffers, it still amounts to using tax payers money – for their jumbo salaries are paid by the collective wealth of all Nigerians!.

So, the argument that political parties should be deprived of subvention in order to make them independent is puerile if the ruling party is funded directly or indirectly from the public treasury.

Since the days of the NRC and SDP when the government of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida fully funded the two parties, Nigerians have come to believe that political parties need not tax them as members since they receive subvention from government. And besides, what is N6 million to a political party whose members and supporters runs into millions?

Even if a party consists only of its officials and some 10,000 people, the number involved will be about 602,000 people as compared to 469 people! What we are saying is: how just is a system or law that allows 469 legislators to take home the sum of N148,145,000 million each while 602,000 Nigerians are given less than N600 per annum? And yet, this is now to be taken away from them to satisfy the greedy appetite of law-makers? Who is more deserving of public funds: the legislators or the political parties?

As if all these are not stupefying enough, the House of Representative members are now asking for a review of their allowances such that each member will go home with a minimum of N42 million per quarter, which amounts to N168 million per member per annum! And above all, our lawmakers led by the Senate President is canvassing an automatic tickets for themselves in 2011 – for which reason they started the allowance review agitation.

Can the Nigerian economy afford this jumbo salaries for less than 500 Nigerians? A job which is of a part-time nature than a full time job is not expected to attract even one-tenth of what they are currently earning.

If the legislative arm of government is paying so much to themselves, only God knows what the Presidency and the Governors are paying themselves!

It is time political parties and civil society groups on behalf of the tax payers protest and seek to halt any further increase in legislators’ allowance and enforce the continued payment of enhanced subvention to all registered political parties. That is one vital way to deepen democratic practice in Nigeria.