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A lawyer and chief executive officer of RealOpenParliament, Charlie Agbo, has condemned the reported discriminatory appropriations for senators’ constituency projects by the leadership of the National Assembly.
In a statement, Agbo said the concept of ranking in legislative business worldwide relates to pecks associated with legislators as expressed in the distribution of committee chairmanship and membership.
“Hence, whereas you could have the tradition of ranking with regard to the aforementioned factor, it will be strangely obnoxious to draw down such privilege to appropriation for constituency projects as all constituencies are equal in the eyes of the law.
“The tradition of ranking has also been fairly used in matters related to the leadership of legislative houses. Hence, an Assembly can build into its rules the exclusion of fresh members from election as president of the Senate, and speaker of the House. This could be understood as a reasonable peck to older members who are expected to have been versed in the legislative process as a
result of experience.
“A situation where some senators labelled as ‘ranking’ receive N500 million while others are awarded N250 million or less, as alleged, will only lead to bad blood such as can polarise the Senate.
“More troubling,” he said, “is the revelation by Ned Nwoko, senator representing Delta North, that he has received up to N1 billion for his constituency projects. This situation can only be called bizarre given the fact that all Nigerians belong to federal constituencies and deserve equal share of our collective resources.’’
He, however, commended Nwoko for his forthrightness and courage to condemn the practice even though he is a major beneficiary of it.
“It underscores his core value of equity and justice,’’ Agbo said, adding that “the remark by Enyinnaya Abaribe that despite his being a ranking member of the Senate, he was not considered for the privilege on account of his being a member of All Progressives Grand Alliance and not a member of the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, portrayed in bold relief the ugly effect of this objectionable practice.’’
He called on the leadership of the Senate to quickly return to the path of rectitude to ensure the Assembly does not slide into disarray.
