Distinguished and Honourable Ego!
Published by toyin on Tagged Abroad, Governannce, Nigeria, Vision
Our leaders have a very humorous and annoying way of doing things; even things that are very important. They feel that they are a unique set of people and must be seen and treated as such. It doesn’t matter if there is no basis or need for such treatment! They like to boast and declare with gusto their accomplishments and status. The people who fail to notice or appreciate this will have unpleasant stories to tell. The experience of one young lady with naval ratings is still very fresh in our memories.
The recent disagreement over which chamber should host the President for the presentation of the 2010 budget sticks out like a sore thumb in the many ‘sins’ of the National Assembly. If there’s nothing we could do as a people to stop the obscene salaries and allowances our legislators earn while ‘serving’ us, I think taking the people for granted based on egoistical odyssey is going too far!
In other climes, it would be unconceivable for legislators to delay the reading of national budget due to supremacy arguments. But anything seems to go in Nigeria and the people are left to bear the brunt. The importance of a quick passage of an appropriation bill is quite clear to most if not all. Anything that will ensure this should thus be encouraged and done to achieve the much-needed development of the country. Rather, our lawmakers see nothing wrong in delaying the presentation and by implication, the development of the nation.
While I am not going to take sides or trade blames, I strongly believe that the current impasse could have been better handled had PDP been up to par as a progressive political party. The current problem started during the preparations for the review of the 1999 Constitution. Some of the members of the House of Representative walked out on the deputy senate president, Ike Ekweremadu over the co-chairmanship of the joint committee of the National Assembly on the review of the Constitution. The festering anger over this ‘insubordination’ and lack of respect from the honourable members became a bitter pill for the Senate to swallow.
So the presentation of the 2010 budget became the right avenue for them to prove which arm of the NA is superior to the other when they insisted that the joint session must be held in the hallowed chamber. They didn’t care about past precedents nor were concerned about space for the number of the representatives or the retinue of ministers, SAs and PDP’s top hierarchy that will follow the President for the exercise. The senate can only sit 215 people while the lower chamber sits up to 500. It is therefore clear from this where joint sittings should be held. But beyond the issue of capacity, all past joint assemblies had been held in the House of Representatives. Even when President Clinton came, he addressed Nigerians from this venue. Why the sudden change?
At the root of our underdevelopment and poverty lies poor governance. We have people in positions of authority that know next to nothing about governance and the use of political power beyond the opportunity to loot and dispense political favours. Tragic! If people claim to represent us why is it that they don’t seek after those things that matter to us?
The arrogance and impunity of our leaders is legendary. They see themselves as far above the rest of us and therefore can go to blazes for all they care. Our future as a Nation is not the crust of their engagement; their enrichment is the fulcrum of their attention. But they must know, like I always say on this blog that the tide will soon turn, as the only constant thing in life is change.
For our leaders to be more careful and mindful of history, all they need do is take a look around them. If they care to do, they will find a lot of people who occupied similar positions in the past and are now ordinary citizens facing the same challenges they failed to tackle when fate gave them the opportunity to do so. The time to embark on ego trip is not now. This is the time to stop Nigeria from slipping into the abyss. All hands must be on deck to do this and our lawmakers have prominent roles to play in this quest.
It will be a tragedy if they fail to appreciate the onerous task placed before them. The presentation of the budget is just a tip of the iceberg when compared with the multitude of developmental challenges facing us as a Nation. Nigeria is underdeveloped to say the least and I cannot understand the arrogance on display from our leaders. I am forced to ask many questions from time to time. Do they not travel? If they do, are they not ashamed at the level of our progress compared to others? If they are, why do they find it difficult to do the right things? Etc.
They go to other countries and enjoy the benefits of decency and good governance. Yet they struggle to do even a jot of it in their own Nation. What an irony! We are the eighth largest producer of crude oil in the world yet we are classified as one of the poorest nations on earth. What are our leaders waiting for to snap them out of their comfort zone? We cannot continue like this and keep hoping that the country will remain one undivided entity. History is not very positive about nations that continued the way we are going. This is the time to make a 360” turn.
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