NASS: LAWMAKERS GROUNDED

IT’S a season of change. For the National Assembly, it is over a year since it was inaugurated. While some Nigerians have adjusted to the new change regime, others are trapped in the old system. Politicians who hitherto dolled out funds to their supporters, have since adjusted to the new reality.

From the ordinary woman on the street of Abuja, to a farmer in Chibok, Borno State, as well as a trader in Ariaria market in Aba, Abia state, the lamentations are the same. The change is biting so hard that some parents in Kano and Lagos states have started exchanging their children for a bag of rice. Pots of soups are disappearing, while shops in markets are sometimes ransacked for foodstuffs. The tales of agonies know no friends or foes; everyone is a victim.

The Senate

For the National Assembly, the change is biting hard. In the past, the corridors of National Assembly were among the busiest. Beside the Federal Secretariat, Abuja, the Na­tional Assembly could be adjudged as the second government institution that has the highest number of hu­man and vehicular traffic.

There are three gates leading to the National Assembly. At each point, visitors are expected to pres­ent a tag, which gives them a tem­poral access to the expansive com­plex. The second access gate is the ‘Mecca’ of the National Assembly where visitors troop to register their presence before they are granted permission. In the past, there were days when over 500 visitors strug­gled to secure the entrance tag.

Those who frequented the Na­tional Assembly were predomi­nantly ‘hustlers’, job seekers, ‘runs girls’, family members of lawmak­ers, contractors, among others. While hustlers usually dressed up in well-knitted suits or African prints to look like celebrities, job seekers on the other hand appeared more simple. It was easy to tell the difference.

For the ‘runs girls’ who almost converted the revered highest law­making building into a red light district, their provocative dressing separated them from regular girls who were staff of the National Assembly. Those who were bold enough, approached offices of Sen­ators and were sometimes lucky to smile home with some goodies.

Almost every Senator had a special budget which catered for different categories of help seek­ers. Their offices were filled to the brim that some of the visitors had to stand for hours just to have a glimpse of their lawmakers. All that is history now since President Buhari was sworn-in on the 29th of May, 2015.

In the last one year, human and vehicular activities in the Na­tional Assembly have drastically reduced. The second gate of the National Assembly which was hitherto Abuja’s version of Mecca now witnesses less human pres­ence. Except for days when there are major events in the National Assembly, the visitors’ car park is seldom filled to capacity.

For Senators, it is a season of lamentations, gnashing of teeth and uncontrollable regrets. Some Sena­tors who spoke with our correspon­dent in confidence, revealed that they were yet to pay off bank loans they acquired in funding their cam­paigns. They said with the current economic downturn and hardship, some banks have reviewed the in­terest rates without their knowledge and added that they may lose some of their properties used as collateral if they are unable to pay back the loans before end of the year.

A Senator from the South-south who was first elected in 2011, la­mented: “In my state, it is very ex­pensive to win any election. It is not like the north where you can give out some money and get elected. In 2011, I took a bank loan and before end of that year, I was able to pay it off. When I got to the National As­sembly, I was fortunate to be a vice chairman of a good committee. In no time, I understood the business of the game and I recovered even everything.

“But it appears as if I made a mis­take by coming back here. Some of us did not know that Goodluck Jonathan will not be re-elected.
So, I went back to the same bank through my account manager and I took a loan, hoping I will pay back like I did before. My brother, as I speak, my allowance here can­not take care of my family, chil­dren school fees abroad, constitu­ents and other small things. I am not even talking of projects in my place and the bank loan is waiting for me. Things have changed, but Nigerians do not know this fact. They think that we still have ac­cess to o much money.”

Many lawmakers who were hitherto tagged ‘Father Christmas’ by their constituents have suddenly become ‘akagum’. Those who in the past, had small budgets to cater for constituents who frequented their offices, have reneged. Some of the lawmakers have changed their phone numbers to avoid their constituents or old friends from calling them. Others have resorted to the use of their personal exit doors which were in the past, sel­dom used.

Through the lenses of the secu­rity cameras in their offices, they gauge the number of visitors in their offices. Worried that they may be unable to meet their needs, they simply use the private doors to escape, while their visitors spend hours waiting for them.

In an interview with our cor­respondent, the Senate Deputy Minority Whip, Senator Biodun Olujimi from Ekiti state could not hold back the frustrations of Sena­tors. She revealed that as a result of the cash crunch that has hit the Up­per Legislative Chamber, lawmak­ers who hitherto paid school fees for their constituents or meet their other financial needs can no longer do so.

She said: “It is not a rumour. Funds are not forthcoming. Sala­ries of lawmakers are paid late. What can we do? Yet, the people out there have been poisoned to believe that all the funds in the country are here. When you cannot meet their demands, you look like an evil person.

“The truth is that we are the near­est to the people. Because we are federal legislators, we are expected to be better than the others. But where will the funds come from? When you put on your phone in the morning, you get demands from wives who just put to bed, children who cannot pay their fees, leaders that are very ill and you were able to give. Now, you can longer give. I have to tell my people that I can no longer pay their school fees. We used to assist some of them pay their school fees.”

House of Representatives

The dividends of democracy appear also distant from the Lower Legislative Chamber. For members of the House of Repre­sentatives, it is a season of lam­entations and regrets. While the hardship in the Senate may still be tolerable, the situation in the House of Representatives is bit­ing.

In the 7th House of Represen­tatives, it was a season of mega harvests. Ministers who served in former President Jonathan’s government were free givers. During oversight functions, huge sums were budgeted to cater for the needs and other ‘logistics’ of lawmakers who were sometimes ferried around in chartered planes and exotic cars. At the end of the oversight functions, lawmakers were handsomely rewarded and everyone was always happy.

That was not all. The cur­rent governor of Sokoto state, Aminu Tambuwal, who served as Speaker of the House of Rep­resentatives between 2011 and 2015, played the role of Father Christmas to lawmakers. Those from the ruling and opposition parties were accommodated. Ev­ery weekend, lawmakers would file to the office of the Speaker to receive small sums for the week­end.

In the House of Representa­tives, it was a tradition for law­makers to distribute bags of rice and other goodies to their office staff and friends during festive seasons. Trucks loaded with bags of rice and rams were frequent sights during festive periods. For those who were very benevolent, they gave out cash gifts to people. It was a season everyone looked forward to.

In the past, it was a misnomer for lawmakers to get their month­ly salary payment alerts late. Their allowances were paid as at when due. Even though there were occasional delays in the payment of salaries of aides and civil servants working in the Na­tional Assembly, it was a taboo to pay lawmakers late.

All these goodies and many more are part of history now. As the economy bites harder, House of Representatives members have devised new ways to escape the long queues of professional beggars and constituents who frequent their offices to ask for financial assistance.

Some members have resorted to calling their secretaries to know the number of people wait­ing for them before they come to their office. Whenever it is extremely important for them to show up in the office and the number of people waiting is on the high side, they use the back door to get in and out of their of­fice.

From the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara to the least member of the Green Chamber, everyone is afraid to solicit for funds from government agencies. The year­ly consideration of the budget which was hitherto a mega har­vest period, was a colossal disas­ter this year. Members of Appro­priation Committee who hitherto smiled to the banks, were disap­pointed, as no Minister or head of government agency ‘greased’ their palms.

Similarly, members who hith­erto frequented their constituen­cies in their villages have reduced their visits. Aides and other do­mestic staff have, instead, been urged to stand in for their bosses. This, Saturday Sun gathered, was a way of avoiding spending on frivolities and other ‘irrelevant’ things.

In the last one year as well, jour­nalists have been affected. Every year, until the All Progressives Congress (APC) led government came to power, there were bud­getary allocations for journalists who traveled with lawmakers for oversight functions. That practice is almost history now. Commit­tee chairmen and their members go on oversight visits without journalists and this has in a way, affected the existing relationship between the lawmakers and some media practitioners.

Advertorials that were fre­quently given to media houses and payments made almost im­mediately have vanished. Some committees that are financially bouyant enough to place adverto­rials in newspapers, negotiate for outrageous commissions. Some­times, it takes up to three to six months to pay for the advertori­als.

Food vendors, recharge card sellers, security officers who hitherto got handouts from law­makers, among others have also been affected by the change re­gime in the last one year.

Maybe in the months and weeks to come, things may pick up. But for now, it is a long walk to freedom and a far cry from Uhuru.