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National Assembly As ‘Whipping Boy’ By Monima Daminabo Director, Department of Information and Publications, National Assembly, Abuja, Nigeria
Not a few concerned Nigerians and foreigners alike have started expressing worries that the wave of scandals which is blowing through various public institutions in the country, has lately placed the National Assembly squarely in its sights. Hardly would a day pass without one media organ or the other featuring one scandal or sensational spin about the National Assembly, or its members or some other highly placed official. Usually, the substance of such scandals and spins hardly veers away from some deliberate misreading of a routine function, or feature of the legitimate operations of the legislative establishment, especially when such may have been largely misunderstood by external observers, or even mischievously misconstrued and misrepresented to the public.
However, for all such fair-minded and concerned citizens of the world who are unnerved by the frequency and nature of such scandals, it would be advisable not to die from panic. This is due to the fact that the situation could not have been otherwise, given the nature and purview of a parliament, especially in the light of the peculiar circumstances of existence of Nigeria's consolidating democracy. The parliament is by nature a magnet for controversies. And where controversies lead scandals will follow. Indeed, even if the National Assembly is shut down today, he stream of scandals will hardly abate.
Seen in context most scandal mongers usually capitalize on society’s dilemma with respect to identifying the truth in its pure form. In this context the primary challenges border on an otherwise “mundane” question like “what is the truth?” This is more acute in an environment where the culture of public record keeping is in a questionable state.
Ordinarily, a scandal is a widely publicized story about an allegation of wrong doing, disgrace or moral outrage. Such a story may be based on reality or falsehood, or a mixture of both. In the context of the foregoing therefore the integrity of any scandal depends on several factors. Such factors include the credibility, motives and credulity of the sponsor; the quality of facts contained in the scandal, the status of the subject of the scandal and often, the socio-political milieu in which the scandal is launched. For a scandal to qualify as credible and to be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth (as can be admissible in a regular court of law), it needs to rank positively in all of the afore-mentioned criteria.
The problem with many scandals in Nigeria, especially some of the high profile ones, which are often launched with considerable impetus and resound with initial earth shaking impact - only to fizzle out soon after - is that they often manifest critical deficiencies in the factors listed above. And that is why often, after the scandal may have blown over, not much except the bitter after taste for victims, is left behind as credible material for statutory prosecutory follow-up, by relevant agencies.
Where some modicum of credibility is availed a scandal, it often derives tenuously from some half-baked fables, woven around a splattering of few facts, to which the sponsor had deployed considerable enterprise, to yarn a fabric of contrived credibility, just to score a point. This is so as often the sponsors are only exploiting the yet pre-literate state of many Nigerians.
This is not to dismiss the fact that in the wide variety of scandals that assault the sensitivities of Nigerians on a daily basis, there are none that qualify in all material sense as credible. Indeed there are quite a few, as time and circumstances bear out. Yet it is beyond conjecture that most of the scandals about the National Assembly clearly do not fall into the last category. Indeed most of them leave much to be desired in terms of credibility and integrity, thereby rendering them hollow. And that leads to the question: why would people just launch rumours that are based on falsehood, all aimed at discrediting an important institution such as the National Assembly? The answer is simple.
As the Nigeria’s central legislature, the National Assembly represents the ultimate crucible in which virtually all contending interests in the country have a chance of being addressed and resolved. And there are a legion of such issues. Given that the distribution of its membership cuts across the entire national landscape, the National Assembly provides scope for ventilating whatever causes or interests that constitute challenges to the various constituencies, which are represented by members either in the Senate or House of Representatives.
Against the backdrop of the age-long incongruities and contradictions of the Nigerian society, especially with respect to the historically, generally depressed circumstances of governance across the various tiers of government in the country, it is inconceivable for the National Assembly to operate as a manager of conflicting interests without suffering collateral damage itself. Just as the first consideration in managing safety is to anticipate hazards, so the National Assembly and its sympathizers, must advisedly anticipate and adopt a structured response to any scandal, no matter its features.
As an institution whose primary functions revolve around verbal and written exchange of facts, figures and opinions, the legislative establishment in the country, from the National Assembly to the 36 State Assemblies and 774 Legislative Councils of Local Government Councils depends for its success on an information driven disposition. Indeed, the imperative for an information driven disposition for the National Assembly and the corresponding legislative establishments at state and local government levels cannot be over emphasized, as such owes its roots to the basic expectations of Nigerians from our democratic dispensation. . Against the backdrop of undeniable serial failure of governance by some past administrations in providing better life for Nigerians over the years, the onset of democracy in 1999 was legitimately expected to represent a new vista of life, in which the hopes and dreams of our citizenry would be fulfilled. However, inspite of the many gains from the advent of the legislature in the country, some Nigerians seem to be getting impatient over fears that the good life may be taking too long to come, and are already reflecting on whether anything has changed in the character of the leadership, even with the advent of the same legislature.
.In the light of the foregoing, it is easy to see where to place typical initiatives to scandalize the National Assembly establishment, including the latest sortie by even our own dear friend, Festus Keyamo. Rather painfully, in spite of the high profile of its sponsor, the entire drama leaves much to be desired. This is especially so when from emerging facts, several of the documents on which he based his grouse and principal arguments are nothing but patent forgeries. This is just as the bulk of his contentions are also based on inadmissible ignorance of the basic processes of public bureaucracy.
Nevertheless the Keyamo saga constitutes a very valid metaphor for public institutions in Nigeria, especially ith respect to the need to consolidate on their information management regime, in line with the prevailing paradigm of mass sensitization of the wider society. This will prevent or minimise instances whereby potential spin campaigns would exploit the credulity of members of the public and celebrate on the pages of newspapers, contrived playouts of scandals that would have been better managed otherwise.
In essence, the burden of scandals on the National Assembly derives from its role as the most visible face of governance, hence its lot as the immediate face of government that can be harassed safely.
In Medieval times, it was a regular practice in palaces for young princes who could not be punished to have their less royal friends and peers punished in their place. Such were referred to as “whipping boys.”
Such is also the plight of the National Assembly today. Some Nigerians believe it must be penalized to assuage whatever grouse anybody has with the failings of government.
What a pity.
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