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NASS Members and Self- Representation By Hassan Zaggi
The National Assembly is the arm of government responsible for making laws to guide the affairs of the country and lead the country toward the path of stability, peace and prosperity.
The Nigerian National Assembly, being bicameral in nature, consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Constitutionally, (section 47-49 of the 1999 constitution), each state is allowed to produce three senators, while the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is represented by a senator. It therefore implies that, Nigeria has 109 senators (3 X 36 +1) and 360 House of Representative members.
The members of the national assembly are elected from various constituencies in the country by the electorate to represent their interest at the national level. In other words, the members of the national assembly are delegates of their constituencies.
Of course, the role of every delegate or representative is to represent not his personal interests and opinions, but the views and interests of those who delegated him or her. It means that, the interest of the masses that elected the national assembly members supercedes the personal interest of the members.
Simply put, the members of the National Assembly are there for the welfare and betterment of the lives of the members of their various constituencies.
The question to ask however is this: Do the members of the National Assembly truly represent their constituencies? Have they not turned out to be people just representing their personal interests?
During the last annual budget ritual, a hint was dropped by the media alleging that, there was a single line provision of 2 million naira per day for the president’s entertainment (of visitors?). There was a corresponding public outcry against the provision, and the impression was given for short time that the controversial item might have been dropped.
Recently, signs have started to emerge that the item was not removed from the budget as speculated. We hear in the media that, in return, the national legislators are also allegedly now asking for N114,000 (one hundred and fourteen thousand) per day per legislator as their lunch allowance. By simple mathematics (N114,000 x 360 (House of reps members) x 365 days) + (N114,000 x 109 senators x 365 days), we have the sum of over 20 billion naira (N20,638,560,000 to be precise) annually, flowing into the pockets of the legislators as lunch allowance, according to Josef Omorotionmwan in Thisday newspaper of August 7, 2008.
A further breakdown of what each legislator gets in a year as lunch allowance shows that, each legislator gets N41,610,000 (forty one million six hundred and ten thousand naira), that is N114,000 x 365 days.
With these outrageous amount demanded by the legislators as lunch allowance, there seems to be a total disconnect between the legislators and the people they “represent”.
In Nigeria, the overwhelming percentage of the population wallow in abject poverty, so much so that many people die on daily basis as a result of diseases and starvation. In fact, most of the deaths recorded in the country today can be traced to poverty.
It is therefore an irony, that the legislators we “elected” and entrust our welfare and all our concerns into their hands have forgotten about us, and instead are concerned with their selfish interests.
It is no more news that, 70 per cent of people in Nigeria are in endemic poverty, struggling to survive on less than a dollar per day, while those they “elected” to make laws that will alleviate their worsening socio-economic condition are clamouring for N114,000 per day for only lunch.
One is forced to ask: Is this N114,000 lunch allowance for the hosting of the entire people of a constituency daily or is it for the legislator and his household only? The answer unfortunately is that the electorate will not partake of this juicy lunch.
Is it not madness, callousness and despicable act, that a legislator should be receiving N798,000 (seven hundred and ninety eight thousand naira), that is N114,000 x 7 days, in a week as lunch allowance, while those they are supposed to represent are starving and battling to survive with a meagre amount of less than 365 dollars or N43,070 ( 118 current exchange rate x 365 days) for a whole year. It is really true, these legislators have lost contact with their constituencies, where people are suffering and dying as a result of curable and avoidable illnesses and dearth of medical facilities in their clinics. These so-called legislators do not even know that the price of fertilizer has skyrocketed beyond the reach of the peasant farmers in their various constituencies.
In fact, most of these legislators, who have made Abuja their permanent residence, with all the good road network, clean water supply, electricity and other social amenities have lost complete touch with the grim conditions of the people in their constituencies, where these amenities are lacking. For example, most of the legislators from the southern part of the country staying far away in the comfort of Abuja have forgotten that many of their villages and farm lands have been ravaged by erosion, leaving these areas without farmlands, while those from the north are unconcerned with the steep fall in the standard of education here. Also because of greed and selfishness, they are not bothered about the havoc caused by the fast advancing desert and the crippling poverty in this part of the country. This is why they find nothing wrong with demanding for N114,000 as lunch allowance per day. It is only in Nigeria that the so-called representatives of the people care very little about the plights of the electorate.
One is therefore, tempted to advise the legislators, if they are truly representatives of the electorate, to leave their mansions in Abuja for just one week, and travel down to their various constituencies and tour just few villages. If their consciences are still alive, I believe the little they will see, will be enough to make them to change their minds and think of what to do to alleviate the sufferings of the electorate who “elected” them. It may make them forget about the N114,000 daily lunch allowance and instead channel their energies into making good laws that will alleviate the abject poverty of the people. This over N20 billion for lunch, is an amount large enough to be used to improve the conditions of the Nigerian masses. On the other hand, one will call on the “poor” electorate to find solace in God, as our politicians, especially our representatives to whom we have entrusted our future have woefully betrayed us.
Hassan Zaggi is based in Abuja Email: Hassanzagi@yahoo.com
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