**A Law To Make Officeholders Richer It has been established that Nigeria’s officeholders receive more income than their counterparts in any other nation of the world. Yet, the National Assembly is in the process of enacting a law that will entitle some elected public officeholders to life pension. Those to benefit from this largesse include the president and the vice president, the Senate president and his deputy, the speaker of the House of Representatives and his deputy. Other principal officers of the legislature may not be left out. From what we are able to glean from the bill, life pension in this instance means retaining all the perks of office – salaries, cars, houses, medical and security paraphernalia and so on – all paid by the Nigerian taxpayers. Judging by the speed at which the lawmakers are treating the bill, one could believe that it is the only reason they are in the Senate or House of Reps. Yet, after spending billions of naira on constitutionamendment since 2007 or earlier, the National Assembly has yet to change one law. If they are allowed to have theirway, the Nigerian economy might collapse under the weight of emoluments reserved for politicians that have not achieved any tangible thing in 14 years. Since 1999, we have had six Senate presidents and the same number of deputies. Also there have beensix speakers of the lower chamber of the National Assembly with equal number of deputies. If the bill succeeds inbecoming an Act of parliament, it is likelyto make provision for past officers from 1979. The states may want to have a piece of the action. Even the localgovernments may want to join. The legislators must never be permitted to have their way. The constitution in operation in Nigeria today is fashioned after the American constitution. It is only the president ofthe United States who enjoys life pension, yet the Americans are beginning to complain because ofthe cost implication. They don’t change their principal legislative officers the way we do here:from Bill Clinton’s administration till now, a period of more than 20 years, the US has had only three speakers -- Newt Gingrich, Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner. The last two are still serving in the Congress, unlike in Nigeria where a former speaker or Senate president feels too big to continue as a member of the legislature. Even the attempt to enact this law confirms the perception of Nigeria, within and outside, as a wasteful nation. Not too many Nigerians know how much these categories of public officers earn and what they want to go away with as pension. There have been complaints about their lifestyle and concupiscence in the midst of the hardship other Nigerians are groaning under. We join the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) in urging not just the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) but also civil society groups and other Nigerians to put pressure on the lawmakers to drop this bill. Let us stop ridiculing ourselves.
Posted on: Fri, 02 Aug 2013 05:37:49 +0000
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