The Nigerian legislators are all trading tackles with the Chief Executive Officer/Commander-In-Chief, Mr. President over so many issues ranging from non-implementation of Budgets to loans to and from foreign countries. But if what the former President made known to a gathering of African Youths last Tuesday in Ota is anything to go by, then there is an urgent need for Nigerians to begin to get involved in the affairs of these political actors, as well as ask all the necessary questions.
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, alarmed youths when he mentioned how many millions of Naira these lawmakers part with yearly. According to him, a Senator takes home N250 million per annum as allowances, while a house of representative member goes with N150 million; and these are exclusive of the Salaries and other benefits of office like cars, houses, etc. In fact, he made bold to call them thieves over the howl that has palled the signing or no signing of bills.
Whichever way one looks at it, Nigeria does not need all the mellow drama, rather a pragmatic public policy with a human face and a plan to address the lingering economic crisis and abject poverty staring on the faces of a massive jobless youths and the underprivileged Nigerians. Just like the lawmakers are saying, we don’t need foreign loans anymore; especially when government cannot point to any physical project since the Yar ‘Adua administration came on board.
If anything, the barrage of corruption cases’ hanging in the air and those pending in courts is enough to even make the World Bank make a re-think; otherwise, we should be smart enough to recognize the World Bank usual gimmick of impoverishing the under-developed countries. One believes that Bank should have a compendium strategists, experts, public policy analysts, smart enough to understand what best practice is and how to help rescue Nigeria from brinks of total collapse. Instead, what we’re getting is a loan facility which even a four-year old child knows where the money would go and in the end leave Nigeria a debtor and a pauper.
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