Nigerian Politicians: Leaders or Looters?
By Abdu Labaran Malumfashi.
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On the 27-4-2024, I wrote an article which title was the poser: Where Is Our Money? In the article, I observed that most of the money is in the National Assembly (NASS), where former governors and former ministers are now ‘elected’ members ‘representing’ their people.
The article was written in anger because of the former governor of a poor state, where its teachers and most of the pensioners were never paid in months, but (he) could make advance payments of the fees of his children in a top notch school in the federal capital. The money, amounting to nearly one million dollars, was however, returned by the school when the governor left office. At the request of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), of course.
Another former governor from the north west, who is now a Senator is alleged to be wont of buying hundreds of rams every year for distribution to his constituency for celebration of the Eid al adha, but could not repair even the hospital in his hometown, not to talk of building a new one there or anywhere else in the state.
A video clip of the ‘50 richest politicians in Nigeria their age and net worth 2024’, confirmed the observation I made in the article mentioned above, even though some people on the list were really hard to believe that they were that ‘stinky’ rich to warrant being part of it.
According to the video clip, except for a couple of people, the rest are either former presidents or former Vice Presidents or former governors or former ministers. And except the former presidents and the former vice presidents, most of those who were on the list are in the NASS as members.
Those ‘hard-to-believe’ very rich politicians include a former President, known for his strict discipline, and was number 3 on the list and allegedly worth 4.7 billion US Dollars, a past minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and number 27 on the list, is said to be worth 700 million US Dollars, and a one time governor of one of the states in the north west and former top notcher in the hierarchy of the country, is also on the list at number 42, is alleged to be worth 200 million US Dollars.
Another surprising thing about the list is the fact that some ‘members’ wealth was underquoted from what the Economist of London alleged was their worth in US Dollars. One of such people claimed to have no money to buy both the expression of interest and the gubernatorial election forms way back in 2015.
According to him, but for his ‘brothers and friends who had the money’ to buy the forms for him, he would not have been able to contest and win the election in his state. But after his first tenure as governor, he was alleged by the magazine, in its story of the 10 richest politicians in Nigeria, to be worth 2 billion US Dollars. The story was published about five years ago. But on the list of the fifty richest politicians in Nigeria, he is ranked number 24 with a net worth said to be 750 US Dollars.
Some of the crop of serving first time governors and ministers whose tenure may come to an end in the year 2031 when they would have finished their second term in office, might find their way into the list of the 50 richest politicians in Nigeria. Because this is Nigeria, where service, in most cases, is for self and not for the people of the country.
Nigeria is a country where money is ‘worshipped’ and wealth is celebrated as an ‘achievement’ regardless of how it was made. Only on these shores would you see a Dollar Billionaire government worker and nobody will question the source of the money while he held sway in his office.
Nigeria is also one of the few countries where its former presidents are multibillionaires, regardless of their penury status before or when they were about to lead the nation as number one citizens.
It is also a nation where one becomes out of the reach of the so called ‘long’ arm of the law, once the governorship of a state, or a ministerial appointment or membership of the National Assembly beckon. And most of them would be in their position NOT to serve but rather to become STUPENDOUSLY rich by hook or by crook.
A Nigerian Senator is said take as his monthly salary and other allowances, including the so called constituency projects allowance, not less than N29 million. And his counterpart in the House of Representatives collects not less than N20 million for doing similar ‘work’.
A person who dipped his hand into the public till would only be caught by the anti graft agencies for not doing what Mr. Ranjit Singh of the ‘Mind Your Language’ would say in the comedy; ‘not running out of the country early enough.’
Some are fugitives in foreign lands, running away from the agencies who are after them for alleged corruption.
This has made the (leadership of) labour to demand for more money for the Nigerian workers, because “the workers go to the same market as do the politicians.’ It was fine and commendable. The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) had demanded from the Federal Government (FG) sum of N160,000 as a minimum wage for the worker. However, the demand eventually came down to the Federal Government’s N60, 000 (60K) and raising with the months and years.
By the way, the NLC leadership of yester-years was not quite the ‘workers’ fighter’ it might have wanted the world to believe. A former leader of the body, who was also a top official in his state of birth, is allegedly so stupendously rich that he has made the list of the ‘50 richest politicians in Nigeria’. Allegedly, the person is said to be number 20 on the list and worth a staggering 850 million US Dollars.
Anyway, two wrongs do not make a right, meaning the strike and the threat of further strike by the NLC are not beneficial to the non working common man, since he does not earn one Kobo from the government. The recent strike shut down every government establishment including the National Grid. This in turn led the closure of certain government public spaces where the ordinary non government working Nigerian found solace in the very hot weather in places like Maiduguri, Sokoto, Kano, Katsina and many other towns.
But the questions begging for answers are: Who will speak for the non working ordinary people who also go to the same market as the rich people and members of the labour union, and what are they expected to do when prices of commodities go up, which they are bound to as happens every time there is a salary increase in the country?
If the NLC intends to go on strike next time, it should go and picket the appropriate place for all Nigerians, not just for the workers. The appropriate place, in many people’s view, is the National Assembly (NASS), whose members in the two chambers go to the same markets with the rest of their compatriots.
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Malam Malumfashi wrote from Abuja.
