By Emmanuel Onwubiko
The British
parliamentary system of government is assumed to be the global reference point
in the area of administration of operational funds for the work of law making
in such a way that transparency and accountability are deeply enshrined.
The law
makers of Great Britain are paid by the people of Britain and are therefore
expected to justify the payments. Parliamentarians render proper accounts to
their constituents and run open offices in their constituencies.
The
democratic institutions of checks and balances are so viable that for every
expense, the legislators are expected to show cause and indeed retire
those expenditures through a verifiable mechanism.
The
British government is a very transparent institution so much so that a citizen
does not need to first of all file a freedom of information request before a
response can be offered on the expenses spent to run the government.
These
critical financing informations are broadly uploaded on a publicly funded
website.
So what
exactly does a British parliamentarian earn?
This
information is necessary before we can holistically analyze the Nigerian
setting in which the financing of parliament is opaque and there is no
transparency or accountability.
The
basic annual salary for an MP from 1 April 2019 is £79,468. MPs also receive
expenses to cover the costs of running an office, employing staff, having
somewhere to live in London or their constituency, and travelling between
Parliament and their constituency.
The
Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) has set and administered
MPs' pay since 2011.
Further,
we learnt that since the May 2010 General Election the Independent
Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) has been responsible for the
regulation and payment of expenses to Members of the House of Commons.
The
official website of the British Parliament also states that the House of
Commons provides cash limited sum per year for the provision of postage paid
envelopes and House of Commons stationery to all Members; this sum is in
addition to any costs that may be reimbursed under the IPSA expenses scheme.
The
beauty of British politics is manifested in the fact that precisely in June
2009 more than a million documents and receipts were made available to the
public online. These related to MPs' claims dating back to 2004/05 and up to
2007/08.
Relatedly,
on 24 May 2011 the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) was
made responsible for determining MPs' pay and setting the level of any increase
in their salary. IPSA is also responsible for the oversight of the MPs' pension
scheme.
In
the Commons, some MPs are paid more because of the special jobs they hold. For
example, the Speaker and the Chairs of Committees receive an extra salary.
Most
MPs who are also ministers in the Government are paid an extra ministerial
salary.
The MPs'
Pension Scheme is part of the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund (PCPF).
Further information about the scheme can be found on the PCPF website, so says
the officials running the website.
To ensure
that plural democratic institutions are alive to their responsibilities to the
people, we are told that some money is paid to those political parties
represented in Parliament who are not in government. This is to help ensure
that the Opposition and minority parties have enough funds to carry out their
parliamentary role and to put across their views. The amount given to each
party depends on how many people voted for them at the last general election
and how many of their candidates were elected. In the House of Commons this is
known as 'Short Money'; in the House of Lords it is known as 'Cranborne money';
(https://www.parliament.uk/
Why do I
have to dwell extensively on the British parliamentary system and the
peculiarities of their ways of transparently administering public fund?
This is
done because Nigeria gained political independence from Great Britain in 1960.
The British spent well over a century governing Nigeria and so it is expected
that as rational beings we have no reason why we can’t be transparent and
accountable. Why is Nigeria accursed with thieving political elite when the
British that gave us independence are very much practicing transparency?
Nigeria
is also practicing partly British parliamentary system and the United States of
America’s presidential system of government.
The
United States of America is also a bastion of transparency and accountability.
Then i ask, since we practice both British Parliamentary system and the USA
presidential system of administration why don't the political elite borrow
those values of transparency and accountability?
How come
then that it took the courage of an 'internal rebel' like senator Shehu Sani
who represented Kaduna Central senatorial constituency for Nigerians to know
what each national law makers earn?
What then
is the role of the Revenue mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission
(RMAFC) which is statutorily charged with fixing remuneration of public office
holders?
Why are
there wide disparities between what is allowed by this statutory body as
payments for the legislators and the actual benefits they draw from the public
fund?
Why would
one senator for instance draw as much as #36 million as monthly take home
payment? This amount is almost the entire yearly salaries of half dozen
university professors.
The
skewed payment module adopted for the National Assembly members is actually one
of the painful inanities of the current parliamentarians.
Other
inanities are the humongous amount of public fund to be funneled by the
National Assembly to renovate the National Assembly complex and to purchase
foreign sold exotic automobiles for these legislators.
Perhaps,
it was in a bid to attempt to divert our attention from the huge financial
wastages in running the National Assembly that prompted President Muhammadu
Buhari to publicly defend the criticisms that the Federal law makers are
overpaid. The President however shot himself on the leg because available
statistical data shows that Nigeria pays more to run the National Assembly than
even advanced economies like Britain and the USA.
As
if Nigerians are imbeciles, president Buhari asked us to stop accusing the
legislators of over paying themselves.
The
President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) said it is wrong for
Nigerians to perceive the National Assembly as being “highly overpaid” for
doing little.
He
said the lack of trust in the lawmakers had made their critics not to see the
enormous work they were doing for the country.
Buhari
said this in Abuja last Wednesday when the House of Representatives launched
The Green Chamber Magazine, a publication by the House Committee on Media and
Public Affairs.
Buhari,
speaking through Lai Mohammed, said the parliamentarians did not share money
without working.
He
said, “Hitherto, the public perception of the National Assembly is that of a
bicameral legislature where overly comfortable and highly-overpaid members
merely stuff wads of currency notes into their pockets for little work done. This
wrong perception has resulted partly from the lack of understanding of the
enormous work of lawmakers, especially outside the glare of television cameras.
“But
with a magazine that will be the authoritative source of anything that goes on
in the House – motions being moved, bills being passed, national issues being
discussed and constituency projects – the public will be better informed on the
activities of the House, and this will in turn reflect in an improved public
perception.
“In
addition, it will help the House to tell its own story, rather than relying on
others to take charge of their narrative. It is said that no one can tell your
story better than you.”
Even from
that venue there emerged strong disagreements. The Guest lecturer seems to be
saying that these legislators are motivated by cash. Just like the guest
speaker said, Nigerians know that the legislators see Nigeria as a cash cow.
Perhaps,
that true reflection of the National Assembly as being cash driven informed the
mindset of the former Director of Kenya’s Anti-Corruption Commission and
Director of the Kenya School of Laws, Prof. Plo Lumumba, who was a keynote
speaker at the event, who then asked if the lawmakers were following the
footsteps of Nigeria’s founding fathers who, he said, had a clear vision for
the country.
He
said, “I read your great founding leaders. I read the works of Nnamdi Azikiwe
and I listened to him in those early days. He was as eloquent as he was
passionate in telling Nigerians and Africans – because he was called the Zik of
Africa – that leadership is about service. This magazine is an occasion for you
to demonstrate to Africa that you are servant-leaders.
“I
did not only read about Nnamdi Azikiwe, I also read about Sir Abubakar Tafawa
Balewa in his younger days – eloquent and passionate about Nigeria. You may not
have agreed with all that he said and did, but you cannot deny the fact, the
clarity of vision and the need for marshaling the people as the only antidote
to the problems that have afflicted Nigeria, and by extension Africa.
“Now that
you have been given the honour and privilege of serving Nigeria, now that
Nigerians and Africans refer to you as honorable members, the question is: are
you honorable members or horrible members? The question as to whether you are
honorable members is determined by the service that you render to the people.”
The
answers to the above interrogatories are notorious.
This is
self-evident because over 90% of Nigerians view the current federal government
officials as being very dishonest. So, the citizens simply laughed at the
president for the above statement.
Yes!
Mr. president’s statement defending the huge funding commitments to meet the
running costs of the National Assembly does not meet the threshold of honesty
because if you look at the decision of president Buhari to deprive Nigerians of
the opportunity to buy foreign rice and then watch the same president allow the
national assembly to buy multimillion dollars’ worth of foreign cars, all that
you can say is that political hypocrisy is a religion amongst Nigerian
political elite.
How can
President Buhari banned importation of rice but permit importation of cars?
Why
protect the agro-allied local industry but at the same time turn a blind eye to
the need to protect the local automobile industry?
This is
even as Kaduna and Nnewi in Anambra state have successful brands of strong
automobiles but the National Assembly prefers to patronize foreigners rather
than encourage local car builders to grow.
Look at
this executive and legislative hypocrisy as follows: President Muhammadu
Buhari last year, directed the Central Bank of Nigeria to block food importers'
requests for foreign currency in a bid to boost local agriculture in Africa's
most populous country.
It
is a continuation of a policy that the president began after coming to office
in 2015, when he banned the use of foreign exchange to import dozens of items
including the staple food, rice.
Since
then, domestic rice production has increased, says BBC Africa business, but the
policy has been criticized for not taking the low capacity of local farmers
into consideration.
The
policy has also coincided with a rise in food prices, which has been blamed on
insecurity in some of the country's main food producing areas.
Then the
annoying hypocrisy of the President shows up when it emerged that the Nigeria's house of
Representatives has concluded plan to purchase 400 exotic cars at the price of
N12.6.646.800.00 each, which is $35,130 equivalent.
The
lawmakers will purchase the cars abroad, with a clear rejection of the
country’s local vehicle.
The
cars which are 2020 Toyota Camry will serve as their official vehicle.
Insider
sources say the lawmakers rejected patronizing the locally manufactured cars,
describing them of low quality.
The
idea to purchase the cars from Innoson motors Manufacturing, a Nigerian brand
based in Nnewi, Anambra State, was rejected by the lawmakers who argued that
the Innoson brand of cars do not have the kind of quality they prefer, and,
hence opted for foreign cars.
However,
checks on the Toyota website shows the 2020 Camry model cost averages between
$25,000 (N9, 000,000 at N360 to a dollar) and $35,000 (N12, 600,000). (Says
West Africa Reporters.)
The
cost does not include shifting and delivery.
This is
even as 14 Toyota Land Cruiser Prado Jeeps have been given to principal
officers of the house. Another monumental inanity is the plan to renovate the
National Assembly complex with humongous cash that can build the same housing
assets many times over. A usually intellectual online newspaper has even
compared this wastage to the negligible amount of money approved for strategic
national infrastructures. These approvals by President Muhammadu Buhari for the
pliant national assembly is said to be a bribe to keep them as hostages of the
powerful office of the President and the unelected cabal in AsoRock.
In
the 2020 budget signed recently by President Muhammadu Buhari, the renovation
of the National Assembly complex is set to gulp ₦37 billion.
Details
of the spending were first given by the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, who said
Mr. Buhari approved the amount after lawmakers met with him to explain the poor
condition of the legislature building in Abuja.
The plan
to spend the equivalent of $100 million on repairing just one building at a
time key infrastructure, hospitals and schools across the country remain in
terrible shape, has angered many Nigerians, says Premium Times.
Many
Nigerians have questioned how much would be required to build a new National
Assembly if mere repairs cost that much.
For
comparisons, while National Assembly votes that much for its own building, all
that is earmarked by the government for capital projects by the Federal Roads
Maintenance Agency (FERMA) — the agency saddled with repairing broken federal
roads across Nigeria — is ₦36.6
billion.
While the
Federal Ministry of Works oversees the building of all federal roads, it is
FERMA that is in charge of their repairs. Both agencies have struggled with
poor funding over the years and have left hundreds of roads in the country in
disrepair.(see Premium Times; December 18, 2019). The education ministry got
just N42 billion.
This
executive hypocrisy and legislative inanities stand absolutely condemnable and
are hereby condemned. Nigerians must wake up and protect this democracy from
being hijacked by CASH-AND-CARRY politicians populating the Presidency and the
WEAK NATIONAL ASSEMBLY.
*Emmanuel
Onwubiko is the Head of the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria
and blogs@www.huriwanigeria.
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