Agenda for the Benefit of a Few
- By solomon2day
- On 22/12/2020
- In News
Nigerians are of the impression that their representatives at the Senate, House of Representative, and the State Houses of Assembly are there to line their pockets and that of their paymasters.
Indeed, they insist that most lawmakers in the state Houses of Assembly would eternally be grateful to the State Governors for facilitating their emergence as the representatives of the people, the same applies for at the center.
Without a doubt, the National Assembly in the second republic was a lot acceptable to the people than what obtains today.
During this period, the then President, Alhaji Sheu Shagari intensively lobbied without success, to pass his executive bill recommending salaries for himself, his Ministers, Presidential advisers, other functionaries, Senators, and members of the House of Representatives.
The third arm of Government meticulously and cautiously debated Alhaji Shagari's bill in the twilight of 179 and the early months of 1980.
The lawmakers relied on responses from the frontliners in Government and the private sector to justify their insistence on higher salaries as against the President's recommendations.
At the end of it all, the then President of the Senate, Dr. Joseph Wayas counseled his colleagues on the dangers of allocating higher salaries for themselves and other public officials.
Subsequently, the lawmakers approved 30,000 Naira , excluding allowances for the President.
Interestingly, when President Shagari was told that the lawmakers had approved 5,000 Naira more than his salary recommendation, the President announced that he would allocate the 5,000 Naira extra to several charity organizations in the country.
In the second republic, gifts were rejected by the lawmakers and labeled ''greek gifts'', but presently it is an ''all-comers affair''.
Encouraged by a desperate executive at the Federal and State levels, a self-first driven legislature, go all the way to implement an anti-people's agenda for the benefit of a few.