Thursday, February 17, 2011

Nigeria National Assembly: Jumbo Pay For Little Work

In their recent confrontation with the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, members of the Nigerian National Assembly (NASS) got more than they bargained for.

If they had thought that they could intimidate the Nigerian top banker, they were easily and sorely disappointed, as their supposed victim ended up badly mauling them.

It was really an unnecessary confrontation the NASS could have easily avoided. But those whom the gods want to humiliate, they first made them lose reason.

In an innocuous address at a local university, the central banker had said that if Nigeria must get it right, there must be cuts in its revenue expenditures and focus should be placed on policies that engender real development.

It was a sentiment that gladdens the heart of downtrodden Nigerians who have watched helplessly as their leaders continue to lavish the country's shrinking resources on themselves whilst social services crumble.

Speaking at the eighth convocation ceremony of privately-owned Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State, on the topic: "GROWTH PROSPECTS FOR THE NIGERIAN ECONOMY," Sanusi had said: "If you look at the budget, the bulk of government's revenue expenditure is on overheads; that is a big problem; 25 per cent of overheads of the federal government goes to the National Assembly. We need power, we need infrastructure, so we need to start looking at the structure of expenditure and make it more consistent with the development initiative of the country."

Sanusi correctly opined that the current situation where 25 percent of the government's revenue spending yearly goes to the National Assembly is unhealthy for the country and its economy.

This got the goat of NASS; they bayed for the blood of the governor and received their just comeuppance.


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