By Amobi Nzelu Esq
On the 8th day of July, 2024, I wrote a letter to you as the Senate President highlighting issues that needed to be addressed to move our country forward. The said letter was addressed to you but for the consumption of the National Assembly, precisely the Senate.
As is usually the case, no response was received till date. That official attitude associated with most public office holders of various arms of Government will not deter me from writing yet another letter to you. Uppermost in my mind is how to move our country forward with the dwindling national resources at our disposal.
Pretentions, indecisions, grave yard silence, lack of commitment and dedication, no matter how garnished or flavoured cannot deter people like us from speaking the truth when the need arises. I will always say it as it is, not minding whose ox is gored.
Let it also be placed on record that why I chose to write to you is because I am aware of the enormous constitutional provisions that empowers the National Assembly to carry out their oversight functions and checkmate the excesses of the Executive Arm of Government. If we get it right from the Senate, other things will fall in place and the citizenry will be better of.
The starting point of this my second Epistle to you is the revelation of DISTINGUISHED SENATOR KAWU who informed Nigerians that take home pay for a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is #21 million per month as salary and allowances. This revelation has put Nigerians in a state of coma and bewilderment. For a Senator to go home with N21 million per month as salary and allowances is not only ungodly but crass exhibition of insensibility to the plight of Nigerians, most of them feed from dustbin?
The Chairman Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Commission has come out boldly to tell Nigerians that the approved salary and allowances for Senators by his Commission is N1,065,000.00 per month. The question is who approved this humongous amount and with whose consent or authority? Did the Senate approve salaries and allowances for themselves? If not, whoever is complicit in this matter should face the long arms of the law. This is nothing short of organized brigandage of the anemic resources of our country. This act also qualifies as economic sabotage or looting of the treasury.
It has also come as a revelation to bewildered Nigerians that the lower chambers of the National Assembly which is House of Representatives take home per month for each member is about #15 million. This includes salary and allowances. Again, this is a rip off on the anemic finances of our country. Whoever approved such must face the full weight of the law. Is our country a lawless society where anything goes?
At the risk of being referred to as a classroom teacher, let me with every humility and respect do a little arithmetic with you. Starting from Senate to House of Representatives and State Houses of Assemblies. If a Senator that is paid N21 million per month drops N16 million and take N5 million as his monthly salary and allowances the following will occur:
The N16 million dropped will at the salary of N150, 000.00 per month give 106 graduates employment.
Recall there are three senatorial zones in each of the 36 States in Nigeria.
By simple calculations, the cut down on the three Senators salary and allowances will give 318 graduates employment at N150, 000.00 per month in a state.
To the House of Representatives, if they take N3 million per month as salary and allowances and drop #12 million for ten members of the House of Representatives on average per state #120 million will be saved. The said #120 million saved from the cut down of salary and allowances at #150,000.00 per month will give: 800 graduates employment. If you add cut down on salaries and allowances of both Senators and the members of the House of Representatives in a state, same will provide employment for 1,118 graduates at the salary of #150,000.00 per month.
To the State Assemblies, I cannot say for sure what their take home is but for the purposes of argument, let us agree that each member of the State Houses of Assembly take home per month is #5 million, salaries and allowances inclusive. If they take #2 million as salaries and allowances per month and drop #3 million the following will happen using Anambra State as yardstick.
In my State of Anambra for example, there are 30 members of the House of Assembly. By simple arithmetic #90 million will be realized from the cut down of their salaries and allowances. This #90 million will at the rate of #150, 000.00 per month provide employment for 600 graduates.
By simple addition from the cut down on salaries and allowances of Senators, Members of the House of Representatives and State Houses of Assembly, 1,718 graduates will be gainfully for each State.
If this figure of 1,718 is multiplied by 36 States, a total of 61,848 graduates will be gainfully employed from the cut down on the salaries and allowances of National Assembly (Upper and Lower chambers) and State Houses of Assembly.
The only inference from the above calculations is that the National Assembly and State Assemblies are majorly causing unemployment because of the unreasonable, humongous and wicked salaries and allowances they are collecting. The question is what are they (National and State Assemblies) doing that others cannot do or entitles them to this kind of unreasonable salaries and allowances.
Sadly too, the National Assembly sits about three times a week and very often take as long as two months vacation. This two months vacation does not include other recesses they take at their discretion. Hardly do they sit for 150 days in a year, the records are there, yet they collect this staggering amount as salary and allowances.
They (National Assembly) are only visibly active during budget defence by Ministries, parastatal and agencies of government because of horse trading. I don’t know what becomes of State Assemblies. Is it this National Assembly that sits less than 150 days in a year that is collecting that outrageous amount as salaries and allowances? Your guess is good as mine.
Civil Servants that work for five days in a week and a total of 260 days in a year, cannot be paid minimum wage of #100,000.00 per month? Who is fooling who? Remember also that National Assembly strength is 469.
Mr. Senate President again hear this, from the Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Federal Civil Servants are 720,000 in number. From the statistics, Anambra State has a total work force of 5,327 civil servants. Applying a green pen principle and by assuming that each state has an average of 5,500 civil servants. This number multiplied by 36 states less FCT will give 198,000 civil servants at states level. If this number is added to 720,000 in Federal Civil Service, a total of 1,018,000 civil servants in Nigeria excluding political office holders.
The National Assembly which is 469 members constitutes 0.05% of the work force in Nigeria. The National Assembly again which is 469 members constitute 0.0002345% of Nigeria’s population which is approximately 200 million.
It costs tax payers in Nigeria about #1 trillion to maintain the big mouths and insatiable appetites of the National Assembly made up of Upper and lower chambers with only 469 members. What a tragedy.
Nigerians will also like to know the salary and allowances of the staff working in the National Assembly. What is the scale of their salaries? Is it in line with what Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Commission approved for them or there is a make up by you people for them. The staff I mean are not the ones attached to the elected members but civil servants.
This takes me to the vexed issue of CONSTITUENCY PROJECT being built into National Assembly budget each year. This to me appears to be a duplication of effort and senseless avenue of siphoning money. Every member of the National Assembly and State Assemblies has a State Governor who oversees the affairs of the State. The oath of office taken by the Governor is to administer the State in line with the provisions of the constitution and without tilting to one side or the other.
Constituency project is another way of criminally enriching members of the National and State Assemblies because most of the purported projects are not executed and if executed, poorly done. Constituency projects are another conduit pipe designed to siphon the wealth of this nation. Where is it provided for in the constitution?
If constituency project is designed to settle the legislators, it is a bad omen for our country and a deliberate drain on the sovereign wealth. No one of them sitting in the National Assembly is more qualified than any of us to occupy the position. Constituency project is a bastard to the level that it has no constitutional backing. You don’t settle political friends from sovereign wealth.
The mandate given to the members of the National and State Assemblies is to represent the electorates or citizens of our country in various Assemblies in policy and decision making not to be contractors. The paramount or key function of the legislature is to make laws for the good governance of the people, carry out oversight functions on the Executive and not to become emergency contractors. I challenge anyone of you people both upper and lower chambers to show me where in the constitution constituency project is provided for.
Let it be put on record that I said the constituency project is an extension of corruption if not corruption in itself or personified. Constituency project is another baptismal name for corruption. Rather than legislate for the good governance of the people, legislators are busy using their PAs to insert constituency projects into the budget, that I can tell you for free.
Again, let me go into the classroom to make use of the backboard. There are 469 legislators in the National Assembly, both Upper and lower chambers. I am also aware that constituency projects and the amount to be put into the budget by each member depends on the ranking and the position each Senator or member of the House of Representatives/State Houses of Assembly occupies. If each of them on an average put into the budget as constituency project #250 million, that translates into N117.250 billion per annum.
This amount at N150,000.00 per month will give 782,000 graduates employment. Because this criminal insertion called constituency project is yearly, we have to divide 782,000 graduates by 12 to represent monthly salary and for one year. By this division 65,138 graduates will be paid N150,000.00 per month for one year before another budget is made.
On this pay cut and removal of constituency projects from the budget, the amount saved will give 126,986 graduates work. If this number is evenly distributed to states, each state will be able to employ 3,527 graduates from cut down on salaries and allowances of Senators and members of the House of Representatives/State Houses of Assembly and removal of constituency projects from the budget.
This is only from two items, cut down on salaries and allowances and removal of constituency project gave 126,986 graduates employment translating to 3,527 employees per state. If this number of 126,986 employed graduates is shared to 774 Local Governments in Nigeria, each Local Government will get 164 employed graduates.
If other areas of reckless expenditures are properly interrogated and diligent expenditure hygiene applied to them, lack of employment will be substantially reduced.
Is it not part of the theatre of the absurd that the lender goes to work on a bicycle or underground train whereas the borrower goes to work in a convoy of armored vehicles costing millions of Naira. The lender lives in a semi detached apartment sharing common fence with his neighbors whereas the borrower lives in a mansion far away from the people and built with tax payers money.
I sincerely believe in the efficacy of prayers but I also know that prayer is not in the success equation but decision making. Nigeria can be great if she decides to take the right decision at the appropriate time, what is lacking is the will power to do that. This kind of decision can only be feasible if we look ourselves into the eyes and tell ourselves the truth. The truth is that we must change our orientation or mentality of doing things differently and being honest to the realities on ground.
On the issue of constitutional amendment, there is a very urgent need for radical and comprehensive amendment of our constitution to reflect the realities on ground. The radical amendments requires a convocation of Sovereign National Conference to determine which way forward and the corporate existence of our country. Any kid’s gloves amendment will not answer the needs of the people. The Constitution as it stands today is a scam and criminally crafted to tilt obviously to one side. The constitution must be holistically amended and rights and privileges of Nigerians duly factored into it in mandatory terms.
The former Minister for Information during the transition programme of 1999, Chief Nnia Nwodo (Ike Ukehe) has said publicly that as the Minister of Information he never printed any constitution nor supervised the printing of one nor saw anyone that was handed over to the incoming civilian government by General Abdulsalam Abubakar. The question is who ordered the printing of the said constitution that has no input of the governed or people elected by the governed to represent them. Who authored the constitution?
I am also aware but I don’t know which Assembly that approved huge amount of money for constitutional review. That Committee was headed by my friend learned DSP Ike Ekweremadu. Personally, I don’t know the outcome of that Committee irrespective of the amount budgeted and expended for that exercise. This informed why I desired a convocation of Sovereign National conference so that inputs will be made by contending groups.
National and State Assemblies should be made part time and allowances paid to the members. To make National and State Assemblies full time cannot be supported by any rational logic and it is a drain on the meager resources of our country. Part time is the only credible and enduring option for both the National and State Assemblies. The sharing formula between the Federal, State and Local Governments should be critically looked into if devolution of power is put in place.
On the Constitutional amendments, I propose:
There shall be seven Supreme Courts in Nigeria namely:
Supreme Court of Nigeria South East
Supreme Court of Nigeria South-South
Supreme Court of Nigeria South West
Supreme Court of Nigeria North Central
Supreme Court of Nigeria North East
Supreme Court of Nigeria North West
Supreme Court of the Federation, Abuja.
Already, there are at least three Courts of Appeal in each geopolitical zones. The appeals from those zones should terminate at their Supreme Courts. Appeals from the Federal High Court of States and Federal offences should terminate at the Supreme Court of the Federation, Abuja.
It will interest you to know that Supreme Court of Nigeria as it is today is overburdened by appeals. As at this year, Supreme Court of Nigeria is still handling 2015 appeals from Courts of Appeal throughout the Federation. This meant that they are 9 year in arrears. As a lawyer, justice delivery should be your concern. What sense does it make that people should wait as long as 20 years for the final judgment to be delivered in a matter by the only Supreme Court in Nigeria.
In the United States of America, they have 50 states and each states has its own supreme court, make laws for themselves and control what they have. American People run the same presidential system that we run here, with elitist coloration. This attitude of winner takes it all cannot and will never rejig our advancement on economy.
The number of the Court of Appeal justices and Supreme Court Justices should be increased to reflect the amendments. At least, each Supreme Court should have seven Justices with Supreme Court of Nigeria having 10.
I also advocate for seven Inspector General of Police namely:
Inspector General of Police – – South East
Inspector General of Police – – South-South
Inspector General of Police – – South West
Inspector General of Police – – North Central
Inspector General of Police – – North East
Inspector General of Police – – North West
Inspector General of Police of the Federation.
This proposal is informed by the size of our country and the need to quickly address issues when they arose. For instance, someone is being threatened in a location wherein it is evidently clear that the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Area commander, Commissioner of Police, Zonal Commander (AIG) have been compromised and a letter is routed to the Inspector General of Police in Abuja. Before that letter arrives the office of the Inspector General of Police and is attended to, the deed has been done. Sometimes, letters to the Inspector General of Police take as long as two months before they are treated; many are not even treated at all. Security should be brought down nearer to the people and in this wise, State Police is imminent and necessary to address security challenges in our country.
The Inspector General of Police of each zone should have Deputy Inspector General of Police representing each state under him. In the alternatives, there can be two Deputy Inspector General of Police and five Assistant Inspector General of Police under the zone. This arrangement will create room for addressing of matters and make the centre less attractive.
There is also an urgent need for devolution of powers in this country. The Federal Government or drafter of our constitution for expansionist agenda or selfish consideration has arogated more powers to the centre than is necessary. This expressionist agenda or conquer all attitude has been a clog in the wheel of development in this country. Ordinarily, the Federation should ensure true federalism by allowing states to develop at their own pace and manage what is within them and pay percentage to the Federal Government. This is not the case in our country as the Federal might has embarked on a mission of total acquisition of what is on the land in various states.
Most items on the exclusive list should be moved to the concurrent list or to residual list to ease the pressure at the centre. By so doing, the centre is made less attractive and the fight to occupy the centre will be less aggressive. Devolution of powers is a sina qua non for the economic growth of our country. In a country with mono source of income, in the face of many untapped resources, it is an aberration or better still unacceptable to consolidate power into one hand or at the centre.
A country where the Finance Commissioners of various states come to Abuja at the end of each month to share oil revenue is very worrisome and cannot engender any meaningful development.
Principally, the problem with our country is the “Jonah” in the ship of the state. The proper and known name of the “Jonah” is “corruption”. As long as this “Jonah” is in the ship of the state, the ship will not stabilize unless we throw the “Jonah” over board. Because of insatiable appetite and large mouth, Nigerians in privileged position steal what they wanted and not what they needed. If the monies and you cannot feign ignorance of the fact, that are outside the shores of our country are repatriated back, we don’t need to borrow money to make everybody happy.
Again, I return to the classroom blackboard. N1 billion stolen by insensitive Nigerian in public office and placed in a fixed deposit at 10% interest rate per annum will yield #100 million interest per annum. This translates to N8.3 million per month and this translates to N377,000.00 per day excluding Saturdays and Sundays. The capital is still intact and breathing.
The wrong is that some of these monies are not disclosed to the relatives of the thieves, especially the ones that are kept abroad. At the demises of the thief, the money remains with the country where it was kept. It is therefore not incorrect if I say that most Western world countries thrives on Nigerians stolen funds.
In a country where 70% of her population goes to bed without knowing where to get their next meal is very disturbing and calls for concern. It becomes worrisome where in the same country just because someone was privileged to occupy public office, he or she is living in affluence from stolen money. This is a sad narrative we found ourselves into.
Don’t forget in a hurry that because of our attitude and the issues of life and the decision to acquire ill-gotten wealth, our country has become the theatre of the absurd. It is a public knowledge that Hon. Farouk Lawan is serving a jail term on account of corruption. The money he collected from Femi Otedola was meant to be shared. Who are to benefit from the sharing? Till date, there is a grave yard silence to that effect.
Festus Keyamo SAN then as Minister of state for Labour and Employment had a shouting bout with Senators over employment that will cut across 774 Local Government Areas in Nigeria. The reason being the demand for the number of slots to be given to each of them. He refused to budge to the request of the Senators. I don’t know what became of that employment regime. How many Nigerians can stand up like Festus Keyamo SAN and say no to that kind of request. Few of them. To you people, it is business as usual.
Let it also be placed on record that I have no personal issues with you but because of the office you are occupying, I have to route my letters to you for the simple reasons that the constitutional provisions/backings, the National Assembly has can stem the drifting tide of our country if properly used.
In as much as I appreciate that the three arms of government are independently dependent to extent that no one arm will subvert each other. However, when the truth is to be spoken, the interdependently dependent syndrome should be put away for justice to be done. This is what I am requesting that the plight of the people should be ranked over and above myopic and selfish interest of few of you.
I also enjoin you and the National Assembly not by your conduct or act, or omission ignite what will lead to a revolution. Conscience is an open wound only truth can heal it. Othman Dan Fodio.
In good conscience and if you were not the Senate President but an ordinary man, what will be your reaction to the fact that senators take home #21 million per month and House of Representative member N15 million per month and State Houses of Assemblies N5 million per month. What will be your reaction when a sitting Senate President will tell Nigerians that he will be eating in his house while the end bad governance protest goes on?
I don’t want by your utterances to see you as a liability rather than an asset to the Government of the day. Guide your utterances because you occupy a very sensitive position in government. Number 3 man in the order of protocol.
In Summary: Cut down on the salaries and allowances of both the National and State Assemblies will yield #258 million per State; At Nl150,000.00 per month, the cut down on salaries and allowances of both the National and State Assemblies will give employment to 1,718 graduates per State; The 1,718 per state employees will yield 61,848 employees for the country less FCT; Removal of constituency project from the budget of National Assembly at N250 million per person will yield N117.25 billion; This amount of N117.25 billion will give 65,138 graduates employment at #150,000.00 per month for a year; The total number of graduates to be employed by the cut down on salaries and allowances of the National and State Assemblies and the removal of constituency project in the budget of the National Assembly will be 126,986;
Devolution of power is a sina qua non to the economic growth in our country;
The “Jonah’ in the State ship otherwise called corruption must be thrown overboard for the State ship to stabilize.
