It is appropriate to
begin this letter, which I am sending to all members of the Senate and
the House of Representatives through both of you at this auspicious and
critical time, with wishes of Happy New Year to you all.
On
a few occasions in the past, both in and out of office as the President
of Nigeria, I have agonised on certain issues within the arms of
government at the national level and among the tiers of government as
well.
Not least, I have reflected and
expressed, outspokenly at times, my views on the practice in the
National Assembly which detracts from distinguishness and honourability
because it is shrouded in opaqueness and absolute lack of transparency
and could not be regarded as normal, good and decent practice in a
democracy that is supposed to be exemplary. I am, of course, referring
to the issue of budgets and finances of the National Assembly.
The
present economic situation that the country has found itself in is the
climax of the steady erosion of good financial and economic management
which grew from bad to worse in the last six years or so. The executive
and the legislative arms of government must accept and share
responsibility in this regard.
And if there will
be a redress of the situation as early as possible, the two arms must
also bear the responsibility proportionally. The two arms ran the
affairs of the country unmindful of the rainy day. The rainy day is now
here. It would not work that the two arms should stand side by side with
one arm pulling and without the support of the other one for good and
efficient management of the economy.
The purpose
of election into the Legislative Assembly particularly at the national
level is to give service to the nation and not for the personal service
and interest of members at the expense of the nation which seemed to
have been the mentality, psychology, mindset and practice within the
National Assembly since the beginning of this present democratic
dispensation. Where is patriotism? Where is commitment? Where is
service?
The beginning of good governance which is
the responsibility of all arms and all the tiers of government is
openness and transparency. It does not matter what else we try to do, as
long as one arm of government shrouds its financial administration and
management in opaqueness and practices rife with corruption, only very
little, if anything at all, can be achieved in putting Nigeria on the
path of sustainable and enduring democratic system, development and
progress. Governance without transparency will be a mockery of
democracy.
Let us be more direct and specific so
that action can be taken where it is urgently necessary. A situation
where our national budget was predicated on $38 per barrel of oil with
estimated 2 million barrels per day and before the budget was presented,
the price of oil had gone down to $34 per barrel and now hovering
around $30 and we have no assurance of producing 2 million barrels and
if we can, we have no assurance of finding market for it, definitely
calls for caution. If production and price projected in the budget
stand, we would have to borrow almost one third of the 6 trillion naira
budget.
Now beginning with the reality of the
budget, there is need for sober reflection and sacrifice with innovation
at the level of executive and legislative arms of government. The
soberness, the sacrifice and seriousness must be patient and apparent.
It
must not be seen and said that those who, as leaders, call for
sacrifice from the citizenry are living in obscene opulence. It will not
only be insensitive but callously so. It would seem that it is becoming
a culture that election into the legislative arm of government at the
national level in particular is a licence for financial misconduct and
that should not be.
The National Assembly now has a
unique opportunity of presenting a new image of itself. It will help to
strengthen, deepen, widen and sustain our democracy.
By
our Constitution, the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal
Commission is charged with the responsibility of fixing emoluments of
the three arms of government: executive, legislature and judiciary.
The
Commission did its job but by different disingenuous ways and devices,
the legislature had overturned the recommendation of the Commission and
hiked up for themselves that which they are unwilling to spell out in
detail, though they would want to defend it by force of arm if
necessary. What is that?
Mr. President of the
Senate and Hon. Speaker of the House, you know that your emolument which
the Commission had recommended for you takes care of all your
legitimate requirements: basic salary, car, housing, staff, constituency
allowance.
Although the constituency allowance is
paid to all members of the National Assembly, many of them have no
constituency offices which the allowance is partly meant to cater for.
And yet other allowances and payments have been added by the National
Assembly for the National Assembly members’ emoluments. Surely, strictly
speaking, it is unconstitutional. There is no valid argument for this
except to see it for what it is – law-breaking and impunity by
lawmakers. The lawmakers can return to the path of honour,
distinguishness, sensitivity and responsibility. The National Assembly
should have the courage to publish its recurrent budgets for the years
2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015.
That is what
transparency demands. With the number of legislators not changing,
comparison can be made. Comparisons in emoluments can also be made with
countries like Ghana, Kenya, Senegal and even Malaysia and Indonesia who
are richer and more developed than we are.
The
budget is a proposal and only an estimate of income and expenditure.
Where income is inadequate, expenditure will not be made. While in
government, I was threatened with impeachment by the members of the
National Assembly for not releasing some money they had appropriated for
themselves which were odious and for which there were no incomes to
support.
The recent issue of cars for legislators
would fall into the same category. Whatever name it is disguised as, it
is unnecessary and insensitive. A pool of a few cars for each Chamber
will suffice for any Committee Chairman or members for any specific
duty.
The waste that has gone into cars,
furniture, housing renovation in the past was mind-boggling and these
were veritable sources of waste and corruption. That was why they were
abolished. Bringing them back is inimical to the interest of Nigeria and
Nigerians.
The way of proposing budget should be
for the executive to discuss every detail of the budget, in preparation,
with different Committees and sub-Committees of the National Assembly
and the National Assembly to discuss its budget with the Ministry of
Finance.
Then, the budget should be brought
together as consolidated budget and formally presented to the National
Assembly, to be deliberated and debated upon and passed into law. It
would then be implemented as revenues are available.
Where
budget proposals are extremely ambitious like the current budget and
revenue sources are so uncertain, more borrowing may have to be embarked
upon, almost up to 50% of the budget or the budget may be grossly
unimplementable and unimplemented.
Neither is a
choice as both are bad. Management of the economy is one of the key
responsibilities of the President as prescribed in the Constitution. He
cannot do so if he does not have his hands on the budget. Management of
the economy is shared responsibility where the Presidency has the lion
share of the responsibility.
But if the National
Assembly becomes a cog in the wheel, the executive efforts will not
yield much reward or progress. The two have to work synchronisingly
together to provide the impetus and the conducive environment for the
private sector to play its active vanguard role. Management of the
budget is the first step to manage the economy.
It
will be interesting if the National Assembly will be honourable enough
and begin the process of transparency, responsibility and realism by
publishing its recurrent budgets for 2016 as it should normally be done.
Hopefully,
the National Assembly will take a step back and do what is right not
only in making its own budget transparent but in all matters of
financial administration and management including audit of its accounts
by external outside auditor from 1999 to date.
This,
if it is done, will bring a new dawn to democracy in Nigeria and a new
and better image for the National Assembly and it will surely avoid the
Presidency and the National Assembly going into face-off all the time on
budgets and financial matters.
While I thank you
for your patience and understanding, please accept, Dear Senate
President and Honourable Speaker of the House, the assurances of my
highest consideration.
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