By Yusuf Suleiman Adamu
There have been so many write ups and discussions in the past few months about the National Assembly, most of them centered around their salaries and allowances.
These discussions are not new. They have been on since 1999. The reasons are not far-fetched and are beyond salaries and allowances. The truth is that the salaries and allowances represent only a fraction of the problem of the Senate.
Nigerians in Diaspora are now lobbying EU and other countries to ban Nigerian Senators from visiting EU countries and canvassing for other punitive measures against them.
There are other compelling justifications for looking into the concerns of Nigerians about the National Assembly.
Nigeria has been living with the economic nightmare of running the American style Presidential System. The nightmare is becoming horror by the day. The cost of running the two Chambers of National Assembly is prohibitively high. It is a waste. It is a drain and above all a drag on the economy.
Nigerians have carried out comparative analyses of the emoluments of the members of the national assemblies worldwide and their findings are terrifying and mind bogging. These analyses and calls for the review of the functions and relevance of having this arrangement.
After careful study of the situation since 1999 and the various calls for reviewing or amending the constitution to abolish one of the chambers, the Upper Chamber- the Senate is easily the chamber to be abolished.
My decisions to zero in on the Senate are listed below for Nigerians to see and add their own reasons as to why there must be a constitutional amendment to abolish it.
The Senate is alleged to be a house of graft and greed and awesome rottenness of the Senate is legendary.
The Senate is not accountable to anyone .Accountability is essential for good governance.
The performance of the Senate since 1999 does not justify its existence and it has to go.
They are not representing our wants and needs. We need a NASS that truly cares about Nigeria and for Nigerians.
The Senate is not a solution to Nigeria’s problem, in fact, they are the problems.
The Senate is not working to correct this country and stop poor governance.
The quality of the Senators and the quality of their legislative work is poor and shameful. There are no landmark achievements one can point out about them since 1999.
Absenteeism –this is one of their deadly sins and betrayal of the people who put them there.
Nigerians have seen that representative democracy does not represent them adequately.
The Senate as it presently constituted has shown itself incapable of discharging its duty of serving Nigerians.
The current state of the economy cannot sustain the 2 chamber arrangements.
In Nigeria today, about ten people fall into extreme poverty every minute of the day and it is inhuman and cruel to maintain the Senate
Our educational system is rotten from top to bottom and with nearly 500,000 qualified candidates failing to get admissions into universities and other institutions of higher learning cannot afford and must not afford to keep the Senate.
There are over twelve Million school age children, who cannot get enrolled in primary schools and a similar figure for child-beggars in the North. It is only a mad country that would maintain the Senate.
For a country that has dilapidated, decayed infrastructures especially power, transport, rails to continue to maintain this arrangement must be the craziest country on earth
A country that cannot provide clean water and affordable Medicare to its citizens to continue with this arrangement must examine its head.
The Nigeria Senate –What you see is what you get. A money-sucking machine feasting on the resources of the country and its people and does not have any National Interest or Agenda.
Nigeria which is not in G7 or BRICS and has no placing in the global economy must rethink its priorities.
The Senate is a duplication and the House is more Representatives, more relevant and more grassroots than the Senate.
The Senate has shown itself incapable of discharging its duty of service to Nigerians and there are no any landmark achievements (1999 till date) that one can point out.
Danger Signs in the Horizon from Senator Ahmed Lawan, who was the Senate President during Buhari’s administration.
During the period , Senator Lawan was quoted as saying that anything from the presidency would be supported, thereby given open ended support for the President and he pursued it to its logical conclusion. Clearly, this man and others are enemies of Nigeria and represent some rottenness of the NASS.
Nigerians must rise to this challenge and call for constitutional amendment to scrap the Senate. This country will never develop with this arrangement.
Anybody who has this country at heart would agree that we must quickly dispense with the Senate. Other African countries have done so and we can do so as well.
On behalf of the 215 Million Nigerians, whose wellbeing are daily going down, this request is tabled for consideration and approval.
This article was written by Yusuf Suleiman Adamu, a public affairs analyst from Abuja, Nigeria.
