• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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It’s sheer waste of public resources having 496 lawmakers in Nigeria- TU

Trade Union Congress (TUC)

Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has said that with 387 representatives and 109 senators in the National Assembly, Nigeria is engaging in sheer waste of public resources that could be channelled into the provision of infrastructure towards an improved economy, healthcare, education and other social amenities needed to raise the quality of life in Nigeria.

The TUC, an umbrella body for senior-level workers in both public and private sectors of the economy, believes that the country does not need 496 federal lawmakers, whose contributions to national development and economic growth melt to almost nothing when juxtaposed against the resources being expended to keep in Abuja. The labour group postulates that Nigeria can actually do with a unicameral (one-chamber) legislature, as the present system being practised has proven too expensive to maintain.

The TUC, in a statement on Tuesday, signed by Quadri Olaleye and Musa Lawal, president, and secretary general, respectively, noted that what the country urgently requires is a drastic reduction in the cost of governance.

“We do not need 496 lawmakers. Governors do not need over 500 aides. It is too expensive to maintain,” the group said.

“The salaries and allowances of these public office holders in Nigeria is part of the cause of the economic hardship in Nigeria. Half of these political officials’ salaries, if put into proper use, could build infrastructure and give hundred of thousands of unemployed youths useful employment,” it noted.

The labour organisation was reacting to an alleged plan by Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to review the remuneration of political office holders in the country. The TUC argued that such move at “a time local and foreign debts are overwhelming and the country grappling with a myriad of economic challenges, is absolutely uncalled for and unnecessary”.

“This is a conspiracy that must not be allowed to stand because of the dire consequences it will further have on the economy, people and our collective image.”.

It queried rhetorically: “Does it mean the Federal Government increased the Value Added Tax (VAT) to raise money to pay the politicians? Some countries in Africa now have a unicameral legislature because their former system was eating deep into the national treasury. Why can’t we think along that line, after all, we have a National Assembly that you could hardly see all the members seated at every session. It is the same thing at the state level, yet their absence has never disturbed any session.

The labour organiation also expressed disgust over what it called an established trend in Nigeria where ex-governors retire to the senate, yet earn pensions from their states.

It also said: “It is only in Nigeria that ex-governors that are jailed for corruption collect salaries and other allowances,” adding that “this makes a mockery of our system”.