Nigeria: Lawmakers’ Exotic SUVs

 By Robert Obioha

The 10th National Assembly (NASS) is always in the news for the wrong reasons since its inauguration some months ago. Although such hiccups are not unexpected with the newly elected leadership, but when they became so frequent without any sign of abating soon, there is indeed something to worry about the present crop of legislators. This is also not actually the best of times for the turbulent NASS. Some members are still grieving over how the current leadership of the NASS emerged and the sharing of perks of office. It is time to bury the hatchet and move on.

When the members are not protesting over the sharing of committee jobs, they are complaining over the sharing of some perks of office or what Senate President Godswill Obot Akpabio humorously described as prayer points sent to their bank accounts, sorry, mailboxes, or both, for want of better expression. Nigerians were not deceived over what actually transpired with the prayer point episode. Recently, the Chief Whip, Senator Ali Ndume, from the North-East, walked out of the Red Chamber over minor issues as point of order or point of correction over how Akpabio handles issues. The Senate President promptly overruled Ndume.

The entire needless drama boils down to the emergence of the leadership of NASS, which was reportedly micromanaged and selected by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Whatever happens, the NASS leadership under Akpabio should be allowed to be. Any attempt to destabilize the Senate will not augur well for the polity. However, Akpabio should watch it and strive to douse the wrangling in the Red Chamber. Too much of everything is bad.

Having digressed a little bit, let us return to the House of Representatives where its preference for imported costly exotic Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) has caused outrage in the polity. At a time millions of Nigerians are suffocating and finding it difficult to breathe due to the hurried removal of petrol subsidy and unification of the exchange rates, it is utterly insensitive that members of the Green Chamber have bought Toyota Prado Jeep at a whopping cost of N130 million each. Some reports put the cost of each of the SUV at N160 million. Whatever is the actual cost, N130 million or N160 million is still outrageous and at variance with government’s plan to cut down the cost of governance.

Using over N57.6 billion taxpayers’ money on ostentatious SUVs made in Japan when there are local substitutes from Innoson Motors and other motor companies in Nigeria at a lesser price cannot be rationalized. Members of the Lower House can do with local SUVs, especially the ones made by Nigerian indigenous automobile companies. It is by patronizing made-in-Nigeria goods that the economy can grow and the naira becomes more valuable and be in a position to compete with other global currencies, especially the US dollar.

Members of the House of Representatives should show example by purchasing made-in-Nigeria SUVs, they are good and durable and can be used to reach their constituencies whenever they chose to go there. How many of them will even care to visit their constituencies in the next four years? They only remember their constituencies whenever election is approaching. They don’t need Toyota Prado Jeeps to visit their constituencies. They should be obsessed with making laws that will ensure good governance and welfare of Nigerians. 

Let them leave the execution of projects to the executive arm of government. Most of their so-called constituency projects were either abandoned or poorly executed. The lawmakers must be sensitive to the feelings of ordinary Nigerians who cannot afford two square meals a day due to bad governance, corruption and selfishness of our political leaders, including some of them. They should be holding retreats and even crusades on how to better the living condition of millions of Nigerians. They should be fasting and praying over our socio-economic woes.

They should be brainstorming on how to lift over 133million Nigerians, including members of their constituency, out of extreme poverty and misery that are politically-induced. How will they feel cruising around with N130million or N160 million car when many of their compatriots are dying of hunger and starvation? Let them show empathy and love to their unfortunate brothers and sisters. Let the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas impress it on his colleagues to drop the costly exotic SUV now. We commend the leadership of Labour Party that urged its members to reject the Prado Jeeps. Nobody knows if LP Reps will reject the mouth-watering offer.

In a related development, the new move by the government to gag the press through the regulation of the social media must be resisted by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas. They should guard against another sinister move to register journalists. All these are disguised attempts to muzzle the nation’s vibrant media.

The government should allow the media to regulate itself. Already, there are so many control mechanisms in the media. And there are laws for redress in the case of adverse reporting. The government needs not be afraid. Nigeria’s major problem is not the social media as wrongly stated by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC). It is not even a monster the NBC alluded to or wants us to believe it is. The major problem of Nigeria is still poor leadership, which breeds corruption, nepotism, bad governance and abuse of human rights. 

Since 1999, successive administrations have tried in vain to muzzle the media through some toxic media regulation bills that were killed and thrown out. The same treatment will be meted out to any worthless bill by this government or its agents targeted to control the media. The government should face governance and leave the media alone. The media should be allowed to perform its constitutional duty of holding the government to account.

The NASS must also not shy away from performing its oversight functions on the other arms of the government, especially the executive. The NASS should not be a rubber stamp of the powerful executive. At inauguration of the 10th NASS, its leadership promised Nigerians that it would not be business as usual. However, recent events in the NASS have not shown that the NASS can bark and bite very well. The screening of ministers and other political appointees has been all a hilarious drama and comedy.

There is no element of rigour and seriousness. All we hear and see is take a bow and go. This take a bow and go will not take Nigeria anywhere near the envisaged development all of us yearn for. It will not add any value to our political development. Nigerians yearn for a change of the narrative. We want more seriousness in the affairs of the NASS. The NASS is not an extension of Aso Rock, it must be willing to bark and bite and bite ferociously.

NASS should limit its current romance with Aso Rock and find time to discuss serious issues that affect the lives of Nigerians. Let them devote more time to devolution of powers from the federal government to the federating units. They need to worry over the free-fall of the naira that one dollar now exchanges for N1,200. The slide in the value of the naira needs to be halted forthwith. We need laws that will make our elections more transparent and laws that will tame corruption in governance. Let INEC be truly independent so that it can conduct a transparent poll without interference from those in power.

We need strong democratic institutions that will enhance the quality of our governance. We need laws to punish electoral impunity and shoddiness in execution of government contracts. The poor condition of our road infrastructure needs the urgent attention of our lawmakers. We need laws to punish oil thieves and those involved in illegal refining. Let there be laws also to punish illegal mining of our solid minerals. We need laws to stop gas flaring. 

*Dr. Obioha is commentator on public issues