A Sanusi is come to court

The media throughout last week was replete with reports of a strong-faced CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido before our 'honourable' senators defending his statements which purported "embarrassed the National Assembly and Nigerians" (Senator Iyiola Omisore's words, not mine) and refusing to apologise. As much as I am not exactly a fan of the bow-tie, french-suit donning financial czar, I must say that watching him take-on the National Assembly on the effect of their undeserved, humongous remuneration on the Nigerian economy made television a bit more enjoyable for me (and no, I did not watch it on NTA - even though I doubt that they would have wanted to air it in the first instance).

Watching the laughable attempt by the members of the Senate led ignominiously by Senator Iyiola Omisore to force the CBN Governor to recant his position on the National Assembly remuneration and Federal Government overhead, I admit that I was very impressed. Not only did the man display a sound understanding of his position, he also passed across the message that unlike our people in the upper legislative house, he is not a member of 'AGIP' (Any Government in Power), neither is he a career politician who amounts to little relevance outside of office. Watching him put the Senate in their place (despite the efforts of Agangan, the Finance Minister who cowered in the face of the 'lions', and tried to soften the stance of the CBN Governor), I could not help but wish: can't there be more public officials like this? Men and women of character who would stand up and courageously seek to correct some of the anomalies in our system (like our dear Aunty Dora was doing before she succumbed to their overtures and started to pursue issues as mundane as asking Nigerians to stop using the term 'Naija')? Men and women who would not care if they lose their position as a result of their drive to make the improving numbers that the Ministry of Finance and the Budget Office (as well as other places where those contentious economic figures emanate) publish to buttress their claims that the economy is improving is reflective in the state of living of the average Nigerian? Men and women committed to standing against the entrenchment of political 'armed robbers' as members of the executive or legislature at any level in this country? Government in this country has become a white elephant at all levels; our public 'servants' live in rather disgusting opulence made strikingly obvious by the abject poverty and infrastructural decay in the general society, and the immediate constituency they were elected to represent; which is to be expected since they rarely visit once they are sworn in and then start making regular trips to the area when election is imminent to make yet another round of halfhearted promises which will never be fulfilled.

As the next spate of elections draw near, Nigeria is set to birth a new generation of legislators (many of whom will not be new as a huge number of them seek re-election) and I can dare say that the elections have all the trappings of a bloody one. Why, one may be inclined to ask? The reason is simple: the average legislator in the National Assembly earns more than N200million every year. He/she spends four years there and he/she is N800million richer (that is, if they even pay taxes) at the end of their tenure. And this is not taking into consideration what they coup from being members of special committees, et al. This means that the position is one to die for, literally and I don't think Nigerian politicians have come to a state of moral uprightness where the lives mean anything to them if they set their sights on an elective position. We must change this. We can only have meritocracy and technocracy entrenched in this country if elective positions are made less lucrative than they currently are. We can only have the leaders capable of driving the nation forward if we ensure that their motivation is national and human development, rather than huge salaries and pensions. We can only become one of the biggest 20 economies in the world by 2020 if we begin to devote more money towards capital projects such as power, infrastructural renewal, education, revamping of the real sector instead of wasting it on the ostentatious maintenance of the National Assembly.

And while the CBN Governor is at it, please let him also turn his spotlight on the Executive, who are as guilty in this scheme as the Legislature, since it is they who approve these huge, wasteful salaries - especially since they are also beneficiaries of the detrimental scheme. They are responsible for the failure of the 2010 budget implementation, and have only been ,too concerned with withdrawing from the external reserves to fund fancy projects,leaving the economy in a weakened position than they met it.

As the 2011 elections loom large on the horizon, one can only hope that we will have some candidates in the mould of Lamido Sanusi, who would live constantly in remembrance of the fact that "I will not be CBN Governor forever", and would work hard to ensure the resuscitation of this sleeping giant. Until then, we will have to make do with the fact that a Daniel is come to court.