• Continued from last week.
That is a sharp contrast to what currently prevails. It was Senator Shehu Sani of Kaduna Central who spilled the beans: “Nigerian Senators Receive N13.5 Million ‘Running Cost’ Every Month”
“Mr. Shehu Sani, Senator representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District in the National Assembly has revealed he and his colleagues receive N13.5 million monthly as running cost.
The revelation by the Senator was the first time a member of the National Assembly will confirm speculations that Nigerian senators are earning N41.5 million quarterly as a running cost.
The Kaduna Senator who made the revelation in an interview he granted to The NEWS magazine said the running cost was in addition to the over N700,000 monthly consolidated salary and allowances of each member of the Senate.
The Senator said, “I think what we can say is that the running cost of a senator is N13.5 million every month,” the Senator said in response to the question on alleged bogus salaries and allowances of Nigerian lawmakers.
According to him, while there is no specific instruction on what the fund should be used for, lawmakers must provide receipts to back up their expenses from the running costs. He added that the running cost is in addition to funds earmarked for each senator for constituency projects.
“But what I am saying is that that money (N13.5 million per month) must be receipted for what you do with it. But what you are given to go and spend without any accountability is N750,000.00.
The constituency project itself is given on a zonal basis and almost every Senator will go with a constituency fund of about N200 million, but it is not the cash that is given to you.
You will be told that you have N200 million with an agency of government for which you will now submit projects equivalent to that amount. And it is that agency of government that will go and do those projects for you.
Now, the corruption comes when the projects are not done and the money is taken. But right now, it is difficult to do that because NGOs and transparency groups have come into it. They track every allocation made to you and where they are being used.
So, it’s becoming difficult for what used to happen in the past to happen now.
But I can tell you that I would love a situation where we do away with running costs, constituency projects and leaves senators and members of House of Reps with salaries.
And also, the public should be informed that nobody should come to any senator’s house asking for any kobo. That also would be helpful.
There are issues that we need to understand. First, I don’t believe that members of the National or even state assemblies should be involved in carrying out what is called constituency projects.
When people are elected into the National Assembly, they should just be involved in law making, raising motions, bills and also performing oversight functions. But we live in a society where people cannot differentiate between the legislators and the executive.
When the people come to you, they want you to build roads, dig boreholes, build hospitals, schools, give money, pay school fees for them. Now, if we have a society in which people will stop asking legislators to do those things, then there is no need (for the allowances) But funny enough, if you are very active in the National Assembly in making laws and you don’t embark on projects in your constituency, you cannot in any way be appreciated by the people you are there to serve because the electorates in United States are different from the electorates in the United States and Africa.
We live in an underdeveloped society with a lot of poverty, misery and wants. What people want is for you to address those basic fundamental issues that affects their lives.
If we can be done with that, it would be okay. Now, you are talking of bogus salaries and bogus allowances – there are three steps you need to consider – the first has to do with the fact when you represent the people, expectations arose from your immediate and the larger constituencies.
But I agree with you that the salaries and allowances of lawmakers should not be discreet, but what is discreet about it when you can write to Resource and Fiscal Mobilization Commission to get everything about what a senator earns?
The only money you are not expected to account for is your salary and the salary of a senator is about N750, 000.00 per month. The other one, the running cost of office must be accounted for. You must provide a receipt for every expense you make.”
Senator Shehu Sani has added an addendum:
“I decided to burst it open. It was a moral issue. The National Assembly is one of the most non-transparent organs of government. It pricked my conscience and I decided to burst the bubble and open the National Assembly to public scrutiny.”
It was not until just before Independence that the “LEGCO Flats” were built on Victoria Island, Lagos to accommodate parliamentarians who would meet for only a few weeks in a year. Houses were built for Ministers in Ikoyi. The contractor was Cappa & DÁlberto and the houses have endured the test of time. They are iconic buildings.
The parliamentarians from the North found it convenient to assemble in Kano for the three-day journey to Lagos by train. Occasionally, they came by car.
The riots which erupted in Kano in 1953 took the British government by surprise.
Here is the account of Mr. JohnLyndon:
“The Kano riot of 1953 refers to the riot, which broke out in the ancient city of Kano, located in Northern Nigeria, in May 1953. The nature of the riot were clashes between Northerners who were opposed to Nigeria’s Independence and Southerners made up of mainly the Yorubas and the Igbos who supported immediate independence for Nigeria. The riot that lasted for four days claimed many lives of the Southerners and Northerners and many others were wounded.
The remote cause of the riot was the strained relationship between the Northern and Southern political leaders over the issue of self-government in 1956. This strained relationship started with a 1953 motion for self-government for Nigeria in 1956 tabled in the House of Representatives by a member of the Action Group (AG), Chief Anthony Enahoro. The Northerners did not accept the motion. The leader of the Northern People’s Congress (NPC) and the Sardauna of Sokoto, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, in a counter-motion, replaced “in the year 1956” with the phrase “as soon as practicable”. Another Northern member of the House moved a motion for adjournment, a motion which Southern members of AG and the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) viewed as delay tactics. All the AG and NCNC members in the house walked out as a result of the adjournment motion.
When the Northern delegates left the House, they were confronted by hostile crowds in Lagos who insulted, jeered and called them all sorts of names. Members of the Northern delegation were embittered and in their “Eight Point Programme” in the Northern Regional Legislative House, they sought for secession. The last straw that broke the camel’s back was the tour by a delegation of the AG and NCNC led by Chief Samuel Akintola. That tour which was aimed at campaigning for self-government acted as the immediate cause of the Kano riot. It sparked off a chain of disorder that culminated in the riot. The riot took place at Sabon Gari an area predominantly occupied by southern Nigerians.
Bashorun J.K. Randle
