From Jerome-Mario Utomi
Public Forum
The latest media report that lawmakers in the Green Chamber have started taking delivery of their sport utility vehicles (SUVs) has again confirmed as true the argument that history cannot ordinarily repeat itself; rather, it is the people that are in the habit of repeating history.
The Land Cruiser SUVs, worth N130 million per unit given to lawmakers, according to Rotimi Akin, spokesperson for the House of Representatives, will for the duration of the 10th Assembly, from 2023 to 2027, remain the property of the National Assembly and tied to lawmakers’ oversight functions in the discharge of their duties within the standing committees, and they are not personal gifts.
Essentially, the above explanation looks good in principle, particularly as there is no question that offices such as the National Assembly need operational vehicles to facilitate their responsibilities, but there exist some indicators that amply qualify the present happening as a deliberate re-enactment of similar actions by their predecessors.
Aside from the fact that this is coming at a time when the country is witnessing slow economic growth but high population boom and in a period when excruciating poverty and starvation daily drive more people into the ranks of beggars, also troubling is the awareness that legislators in the Red Chamber will receive the first batch of the SUVs in no distant time.
More intrinsically, there are reasons that the happenings in NASS perfectly posture Nigerians as people that are in the habit of repeating history.
First and very fundamental, in the year 2019, at a time when Nigerians were waiting for the enactment of laws that would assist to uplift the life chances of Nigerians, the now rested 9th NASS, contrary to expectations, abandoned the masses and got preoccupied with quality of car to use for official and other related oversight functions.
Even as Nigerians lamented such stunning misguided priority, as it were, the 9th House of Representative, similar to the character that is currently exhibited by the 10th Assembly, added more insult to the injury by refusing to patronize locally assembled vehicles by Innoson Group that was reportedly recommended for them and opted for the 2020 edition of Toyota Camry, which not only doubled the price of the initially recommended but would cost a whopping N5 billion of taxpayers’ money to purchase 400 of the Camry model needed by the House.
Essentially, seperate from rejection of Innoson brand of SUVs initially recommended for members, and in its place going for 2020 edition of Toyota Camry, that gulped about N5 billion, what, however, made the development newsy was that the House, by that singular action, not only contravened, but totally abandoned the Local Content Law, which it had earlier promoted.
As we know, the Local Content Act 2010 governs Nigeria’s content matters and, among other things, stipulates that Nigerian content must be mandatorily considered as a key element of project development in the country.
Looking above, this piece holds the opinion that the strategic implication of the 9th and 10th Assembly’s flagrant disregard for laws of the land and non-consideration of the poor masses in their choices and quest for affluence partially explains why what is today said at the floor of the National Assembly hardly matters that much more to the people and sheds more light to communication from the lawmakers are not only self-defeating but roundly promotes cynicism among the masses.
While the ongoing action within the NASS, in my view, signposts a practical demonstration of a leadership devoid of prudence and mercy for the masses, and the more bitterly each round of this situation is remembered, the deeper the pains, it also raises the question that centres on conscience, empathy and decorum of the honourable members.
Take as an illustration, how will the wider world look at us as a nation that we are spending billions of naira on SUVs in a country where over 10.5 million are reportedly out of school? In a country where those that are in school are not learning anything as a result of over-crowded classes and poor learning facilities? In a country where infrastructural and democracy deficits are so glaring and alarming? Where youth unemployment has become the order of the day and industries are daily folding up and relocating to other neighboring countries as a result of lack of electricity and other facilities that support industrial growth?
Amusingly, some Nigerians have since absolved the lawmakers of any wrongdoing. While some described their demand for the choice of cars as a befitting reward for their office and position, others argue that politics is an act of promoting and protecting one’s interest and not largely a question of the masses, party or faction-noting that every individual, among others, is a political creature seeking to secure his/her own position-and hence should not be scolded for using public office as an avenue for private gain.
Regardless of what others may say, that the Assembly spent such a huge amount on operational vehicles in a country that has recently become reputed for borrowing sends wrong signals to the watching world and tells a story of a country ‘blessed’ with a bunch of public office holders that are neither ready to make sacrifice nor diligently implement the tasks of nation-building.
For me, one point the public office holders such as our lawmakers failed to remember is that hearing the sound of thunder does not translate to a keen ear. They seem not to be aware that people’s support is the greatest asset they enjoy. They appear unmindful of the fact that what binds every follower to their leaders is unwavering faith built on trust.
And no one seems to have reminded the lawmakers that, as leaders, they are watched closely, people are noting every move they make, their followers are learning a great deal about them and what they really believe, as opposed to what they say. This time, to my mind, is a trying and defining moment for these lawmakers.
Since we cannot predict the future, we must start from the present. And we can do this by reminding the lawmakers and other public office holders that greed, personal aggrandizement and selfishness, among other things, share two sorrowful characteristics with borrowing. First, is the time-honoured belief that when one is possessed by any of the above, it becomes hard to break. Based on this fact, chances are that we may see more mindless spending come from the Assembly in the near future. Secondly, in borrowing, one’s reputation depletes. Invariably, in the estimation of Nigerians, these actions taken by the lawmakers are depleting their hard-earned reputation.
Finally, ‘the greatest problem of man is that man is the problem’. If we make a decision to manage what we have well, we can do much with it. And we need not go searching for the solutions to our national problem in the wrong directions.
•Utomi writes via: [email protected].