The President of the Nigerian Senate,
Bukola Saraki, has formally replied a letter ex-President Olusegun
Obasanjo wrote to the National Assembly on January 13, accusing the
country’s federal lawmakers of corruption, greed, lawlessness and
impunity.
In his reply, dated January 29, and
exclusively obtained by PREMIUM TIMES Mr. Saraki responded to Mr.
Obasanjo’s concern, saying the 8th National Assembly under his
leadership was already taking deliberate steps to strengthen the
country’s democratic institutions and ensure prudent management of
resources.
“This is to ensure that we plug all
leakages and minimize waste across our expenditure systems,” the Senate
president said in the two-page letter.
“Likewise, the 8th National Assembly has
made the issue of plugging leakages and cutting wastages in our public
expenditure system a major priority that should not be toyed with. This
may have happened in the past but it will not happen with us.”
The former president had in his letter,
addressed to Mr. Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives,
Yakubu Dogara, accused the lawmakers of fixing and earning salaries and
allowances far above what the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and
Fiscal Commission approved for them.
He also alleged that most of the 109
senators and 369 members of the House of Representatives were receiving
constituency allowances without maintaining constituency offices as the
laws required of them.
He faulted the plans by the lawmakers to
acquire new exotic cars for themselves, saying, “Whatever name it is
disguised as, it is unnecessary and insensitive.”
He advised that “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,” Mr. Obasanjo said.
“That was why they were abolished. Bringing them back is inimical to the
interest of Nigeria and Nigerians.”
But in his response, Mr. Saraki told the
former president that the lawmakers were fully aware of the challenges
the nation was facing, saying, “As leaders with a duty, we will not
disappoint Nigerians in their yearnings for a more transparent public
expenditure system.”
On corruption, Mr. Saraki said the
National Assembly was working with President Muhammadu Buhari to stem
the menace in the country.
According to him, the legislature was
already overhauling its oversight functions to make it more effective in
exposing corruption in federal ministries, departments and agencies.
“We are hand in glove with the president
on this matter and this is why we are overhauling our oversight
functions to make it more effective in exposing corruption in the
Ministries, Departments and Agencies,” the senate president said.
“We recognize the hard work our anti-corruption agencies are putting into this fight.
“The Senate is resolved to support them
to perform their duty effectively by providing them with adequate
funding where necessary, as their work in integral to our oversight
responsibility.”
Mr. Obasanjo had written the National Assembly
to amplify widespread concerns that federal lawmakers were insensitive
to the economic hardship facing their country, and had continued to live
in opulence at taxpayers expense.
Even as the Senate President’s letter
travelled to Mr. Obasanjo, the federal lawmakers were taking delivery of
exotic cars for themselves even when the nation’s monetisation policy
forbids them from doing so.
The acquisition of the cars was also
done in disregard of the advice of the former president urging the
lawmakers to discard the plan.
The National Assembly is yet to make
details of its 2016 budget public despite widespread calls on them to
emulate the other arms of government – the executive and the judiciary –
and do so.
Read Mr. Obasanjo’s January 13 letter here.
See Mr. Saraki’s letter below.
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