National Assembly And It's Covenant With The Nigerian People
Before our politicians get elected, they glibly articulate certain agenda that would touch the lives of the people, but deep down most of them have different agenda which are geared towards maximum enrichment of themselves in the most despicable and brazen manner.
This has been the bane of our politics and because our politicians toe this dishonourable path, the nation and it's people have become pauperized, wallowing in abject poverty with the attendant stagnation in the socio- economic growth of this blessed Nation.
The purpose of this piece is to remind the National Assembly that they were not elected to fight dirty for the leadership of the hallowed chambers, neither were they elected to fleece the scarce resources of the people. Their covenant with the Nigerian people is a two way traffic.
The people have fulfilled the first leg of the covenant that is coming out in large numbers under the scorching sun and pouring rain to vote for them with no strings attach. The second part of the people's covenant is for the electorate to support them which will be handy.
On the other hand, the covenant of the members of the National Assembly with the Nigerian people is sacrosanct and because of its sanctity, it carries spiritual and physical sanctions if they fail to fulfill their own part of the bargain.
For the avoidance of ambiguity and to drive home the sanctity of their covenant, section 47of the 1999 Constitution recognizes the existence of the National Assembly and went further to define its function which is principally to make laws for the general well being of the people. To me the power of the National Assembly is more awesome than that of the president because the president cannot spend a kobo without being appropriated by NASS, neither will the president appoint the CJN, ministers, service chiefs, CBN Governor and other National commissions recognized in the constitution without the stamp of NASS. The most awesome power of NASS is embedded in section143 of the constitution. "The president or Vice President may be removed from office in accordance with the provisions of this section of the constitution."
Whether since the arrival of democracy 16 years ago, NASS has discharged these awesome powers in the interest of the people is debatable. I'm however convinced that NASS has not lived up to the expectations of Nigerians in view of its enormous powers. I don't want to bore you with the details of the failure of NASS in discharging its statutory functions which are legendary. Let's charge them the way Jesus charged the adulterous woman "go,your sins are forgiven but sin no more."
The first charge is for NASS to purge itself of its iniquities to enable them to carry out their responsibilities smoothly. They must do some in house cleaning for he who comes to equity must come with clean hands. These are some of the excesses of NASS: the sum of N632 billion has been spent on them for the past 4 years, embrassingly the sum of N2.8 billion has been paid as their severance, 25% of the annual budget is spent on them. It is alleged that they pad budgets with active connivance with MDAS and the padded sum are now shared between the members NASS and the chief Executives of MDAS. That their oversight functions is alleged to be an avenue of siphoning our resources as they bully MDAS to raise sizable funds for them and because of that and other reasons, budgets are executed in default . Consequently, they need to purge themselves of these allegations and reduce drastically the cost of governance as it affects them by more than 50%.
They should assist the executive to block leakages,wastage and corruption perpetrated by the MDAS in the course of their oversight functions. It will be recalled that NASS themselves did an excellent job by churning out a report that 60 revenue generating agencies of the federal government failed to remit N9.4 billion to the Federal account from 2009- 2012. The hallowed chambers of NASS should not only stop at producing reports, but ensure that its findings are strictly adhered to for the betterment of the society.
The most worrying phenomenon in the Federal Government financial circle is the fuel subsidy scam. Luckily the President of the NASS in the person of Dr.Bukola Saraki raised a well researched motion on the subsidy scam and was adopted by NASS that there existed a cabal that had been fleecing the resources of the Federal Government in the name of fuel subsidy and that in 2011, the sum of N240 billion was allocated for the entire year but by the end of the year it had expended N1.2trillion which is one quarter of the total budget and is more than the capital budget of the Ministries of works,education and agriculture - the essential growers of the economy.The onus is now on NASS to remove totally the subsidy or destroy the cabal.
They should, in liaison with the executive, streamline MDAS. In doing this, they should get a hold of the Oronsanye report which reduces the number of parastatals by about 40%. This is in addition to proposed to the Executive the reduction of the number of ministries.
An executive bill should be prepared, with the input of NASS, in ensuring that the streamlined MDAS become part of our constitution or law so as to avoid been tampered with by successive governments. A situation where America the most advanced democracy in the world and biggest economy in the world has only 15 departments (in our parlance Ministries),while an underdeveloped economy like ours with a low standard of living has 42 ministries is totally unacceptable.
NASS should partner with the federal government to actualize its priority of diversifying the economy through accelerated agricultural development and exploration and exploitation of mineral resources. Similarly the solid mineral sector has been given lip service for too long. This sector should be overhauled, especially with regards to the issuing of mining licenses. Only core investors with requisite experience and financial capability should be patronized.
This is what I think should be the core mandate of NASS. Of course there are other important issues to attend to I.e. corruption and revival of the comatose social and infrastructural amenities which are also vital. Similarly, insecurity occasioned by insurgency, armed robbery, kidnapping, ritual killings etc should be given top priority.
I am of the firm conviction that if the NASS achieve 60% of their core mandate, they will not only be applauded by Nigerians but their names will be ingrained in the history of the nation's legislation.
Failure to do the aforementioned by NASS will attract spiritual and physical sanctions as mentioned earlier which will manifest in form of falling from grace to grass, affliction with terminal diseases,catastrophe,disaster, calamities etc.
TO BE FORE WARNED IS TO BY FORE ARMED. A WORD IS ENOUGH FOR THE WISE.
FENNY J. FWA
MINISTRY OF INFORMATION
08069586320