Obasanjo's Letter To Senate And House Of Representatives - Politics - Nairaland

Distinguished Senator Bukola Saraki,
President of the Senate,
Federal Republic of Nigeria,
Senate Chambers,
Abuja.
Honourable Yakubu Dogara,
Speaker, House of Representatives,
National Assembly Complex,
Abuja.

It is appropriate to begin this letter, which I am sending to all
members of the Senate and the House of Representatives through both of
you at this auspicious and critical time, with wishes of Happy New
Year to you all.

On a few occasions in the past, both in and out of office as the
President of Nigeria, I have agonised on certain issues within the
arms of government at the national level and among the tiers of
government as well. Not least, I have reflected and expressed,
outspokenly at times, my views on the practice in the National
Assembly which detracts from distinguishness and honourability because
it is shrouded in opaqueness and absolute lack of transparency and
could not be regarded as normal, good and decent practice in a
democracy that is supposed to be exemplary.I am, of course, referring
to the issue of budgets and finances of the National Assembly.

The present economic situation that the country has found itself in is
the climax of the steady erosion of good financial and economic
management which grew from bad to worse in the last six years or so.
The executive and the legislative arms of government must accept and
share responsibility in this regard. And if there will be a redress of
the situation as early as possible, the two arms must also bear the
responsibility proportionally. The two arms ran the affairs of the
country unmindful of the rainy day. The rainy day is now here. It
would not work that the two arms should stand side by side with one
arm pulling and without the support of the other one for good and
efficient management of the economy.

The purpose of election into the Legislative Assembly particularly at
the national level is to give service to the nation and not for the
personal
service and interest of members at the expense of the nation which
seemed to have been the mentality, psychology, mindset and practice
within
the National Assembly since the beginning of this present democratic
dispensation. Where is patriotism? Where is commitment? Where is
service?
The beginning of good governance which is the responsibility of all
arms and all the tiers of government is openness and transparency. It
does
not matter what else we try to do, as long as one arm of government
shrouds its financial administration and management in opaqueness and
practices rife with corruption, only very little, if anything at all,
can be achieved in putting Nigeria on the path of sustainable and
enduring
democratic system, development and progress. Governance without
transparency will be a mockery of democracy.

Let us be more direct and specific so that action can be taken where
it is urgently necessary. A situation where our national budget was
predicated on $38 per barrel of oil with estimated 2 million barrels
per day and before the budget was presented, the price of oil had gone
down to $34 per barrel and now hovering around $30 and we have no
assurance of producing 2 million barrels and if we can, we have no
assurance of finding market for it, definitely calls for caution. If
production and price projected in the budget stand, we would have to
borrow almost one third
of the 6 trillion naira budget. Now beginning with the reality of the
budget, there is need for sober reflection and sacrifice with
innovation at the level of executive and legislative arms of
government.

The soberness, the sacrifice and seriousness must be patient and
apparent. It must not be seen and said that those who, as leaders,
call for sacrifice from the citizenry are living in obscene opulence.
It will not only be insensitive but callously so. It would seem that
it is becoming a culture that election into the legislative arm of
government at the national level in particular is a licence for
financial misconduct and that should not be. The National Assembly now
has a unique opportunity of presenting a new image of itself. It will
help to strengthen, deepen, widen and sustain our democracy.

By our Constitution, the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal
Commission is charged with the responsibility of fixing emoluments of
the
three arms of government: executive, legislature and judiciary. The
Commission did its job but by different disingenuous ways and devices,
the
legislature had overturned the recommendation of the Commission and
hiked up for themselves that which they are unwilling to spell out in
detail,
though they would want to defend it by force of arm if necessary. What is that?

Mr. President of the Senate and Hon. Speaker of the House, you know
that your emolument which the Commission had recommended for you takes
care of all your legitimate requirements: basic salary, car, housing,
staff, constituency allowance.
Although the constituency allowance is paid to all members of the
National Assembly, many of them have no constituency offices which the
allowance is partly meant to cater for. And yet other allowances and
payments have been added by the National Assembly for the National
Assembly members' emoluments. Surely, strictly speaking, it is
unconstitutional.

There is no valid argument for this except to see it for what it is –
law-breaking and impunity by lawmakers. The lawmakers can return to
the path of honour, distinguishness, sensitivity and responsibility.
The National Assembly should have the courage to publish its recurrent
budgets for the years 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015. That is what
transparency demands. With the number of legislators not changing,
comparison can be made. Comparisons in emoluments can also be made
with countries like Ghana, Kenya, Senegal and even Malaysia and
Indonesia who are richer and more developed than we are.

The budget is a proposal and only an estimate of income and
expenditure. Where income is inadequate, expenditure will not be made.
While in government, I was threatened with impeachment by the members
of the National Assembly for not releasing some money they had
appropriated for themselves which were odious and for which there were
no incomes to support. The recent issue of cars for legislators would
fall into the same category. Whatever name it is disguised as, it is
unnecessary and insensitive. A pool of a few cars for each Chamber
will suffice for any Committee Chairman or members for any specific
duty. The waste that has gone into cars, furniture, housing renovation
in the past was mind-boggling and these were veritable sources of
waste and corruption. That was why they were abolished. Bringing them
back is inimical to the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians.
The way of proposing budget should be for the executive to discuss
every detail of the budget, in preparation, with different Committees
and sub-Committees of the National Assembly and the National Assembly
to discuss its budget with the Ministry of Finance.

Then, the budget should be brought together as consolidated budget
and formally presented to the National Assembly, to be deliberated and
debated upon and passed into law. It would then be implemented as
revenues are available. Where budget proposals are extremely ambitious
like the current budget and revenue sources are so uncertain, more
borrowing may have to be embarked upon, almost up to 50% of the budget
or the budget may be grossly unimplementable and unimplemented.
Neither is a choice as both are bad. Management of the economy is one
of the key responsibilities of the President as prescribed in the
Constitution. He cannot do so if he does not have his hands on the
budget. Management of the economy is shared responsibility where the
Presidency has the lion share of the responsibility. But if the
National Assembly becomes a cog in the wheel, the executive efforts
will not yield much reward or progress. The two have to work
synchronisingly together to provide the impetus and the conducive
environment for the private sector to play its active vanguard role.
Management of the budget is the first step to manage the economy.

It will be interesting if the National Assembly will be honourable
enough and begin the process of transparency, responsibility and
realism by publishing its recurrent budgets for 2016 as it should
normally be done.
Hopefully, the National Assembly will take a step back and do what is
right not only in making its own budget transparent but in all matters
of financial administration and management including audit of its
accounts by external outside auditor from 1999 to date. This, if it is
done, will bring a new dawn to democracy in Nigeria and a new and
better image for the National Assembly and it will surely avoid the
Presidency and the National Assembly going into face-off all the time
on budgets and financial matters.

While I thank you for your patience and understanding, please accept,
Dear Senate President and Honourable Speaker of the House, the
assurances of my highest consideration.
OLUSEGUN OBASANJO