My heart really bleeds with anger and concern about the state of Nigerian polity and the condition of the common man.  This is even more painful when one considers the level of luxurious life and comfort enjoyed by every Tom, Dick and Harry who is privileged to serve in political offices in Nigeria.  Nigeria is a country where every citizen ought to have a right to enjoy the dividends of the huge material and human resources that God has endowed on us free of charge.

I have come to reason that the current set up of Nigerian polity is the main reason why the gap between the rich and poor in the country is becoming wider with every passing day and also why our institutions are in deplorable conditions.  Our politicians are paid salaries and allowances as if they are not part of the rest of Nigerians.  They have access to public funds and give no account about how public money is spent.  It is no longer a secret that virtually every politician or anybody who has been in position of authority in Nigeria has become rich over night.  Most of them have houses valued at millions and billions of dollars in UK, USA, and Dubai etc.

If we take the case of our past presidents say Obasanjo, Babangida and Abacha for example.  These men were never rich before they became president of Nigeria not even considering the fact that none of them ever merited becoming president of Nigeria because of the way and manner they found themselves at the top.   Today the total wealth of these three past presidents or even the wealth of each of them could be more than the wealth of Nigeria as a nation.  I find this a very deplorable situation particularly as none of them have been questioned as to how they became so rich after their so called service to the nation.  Most Nigerians perhaps know some of the visible assets that these “men of dishonour” have in Nigeria alone, talk less about what they have outside Nigeria.

Similarly there are stories about what other Nigerians who are past and present office holders in politics have acquired in money and assets amounting to billions of Naira and dollars including our senate president, the speaker of the house, past ministers in the Yaradua’s regime and other past corrupt regimes just to mention but a few.  Politicians see themselves as gods or colossuses and we petty men and women walk and peep about under their  huge feet only to find ourselves dishonourable graves. 

If we want to bring about sanity in Nigerian polity, we should first and foremost make remuneration to politicians and political office holders far less attractive than what it is today.  I suggest that the salary of a Nigerian president should be twice that of a Nigerian professor.  Salary of governors should be one and half times that of a professor while that of senators and ministers should be equal to that of a professor.  In addition all the allowances paid to political office holders should be reduced by 90%.  For example some governors get security budget of N200 – N300 million every month, which they give no account for.

In other words all politicians and political office holders should get only 10% of all the allowances they are paid today.  However in addition to that, every politician who completes an entire four year period of his tenure or eight year period if re-elected for a second term should be paid some lump sum money as a kind of gratuity to enable them build one or two houses in any town they like to reside after their retirement from politics.  I suggest a sum of N100, 000,000.00 (one hundred million naira) for a president, N70, 000,000.00 for governors, N50, 000,000.00 for members of house of senate or representatives and ministers.  Local government chairmen should be paid N30, 000,000.00 and councillors N15, 000.000.00.  Let only people who are really interested in serving the nation come and render service to the nation.  They should render a monthly or quarterly account of how they have spent public money and their accounts must be verifiable and auditable.

bigdoo:

My heart really bleeds with anger and concern about the state of Nigerian polity and the condition of the common man. This is even more painful when one considers the level of luxurious life and comfort enjoyed by every Tom, manliness and Harry who is privileged to serve in political offices in Nigeria. Nigeria is a country where every citizen ought to have a right to enjoy the dividends of the huge material and human resources that God has endowed on us free of charge.

I have come to reason that the current set up of Nigerian polity is the main reason why the gap between the rich and poor in the country is becoming wider with every passing day and also why our institutions are in deplorable conditions. Our politicians are paid salaries and allowances as if they are not part of the rest of Nigerians. They have access to public funds and give no account about how public money is spent. It is no longer a secret that virtually every politician or anybody who has been in position of authority in Nigeria has become rich over night. Most of them have houses valued at millions and billions of dollars in UK, USA, and Dubai etc.

If we take the case of our past presidents say Obasanjo, Babangida and Abacha for example. These men were never rich before they became president of Nigeria not even considering the fact that none of them ever merited becoming president of Nigeria because of the way and manner they found themselves at the top. Today the total wealth of these three past presidents or even the wealth of each of them could be more than the wealth of Nigeria as a nation. I find this a very deplorable situation particularly as none of them have been questioned as to how they became so rich after their so called service to the nation. Most Nigerians perhaps know some of the visible assets that these “men of dishonour” have in Nigeria alone, talk less about what they have outside Nigeria.

Similarly there are stories about what other Nigerians who are past and present office holders in politics have acquired in money and assets amounting to billions of Naira and dollars including our senate president, the speaker of the house, past ministers in the Yaradua’s regime and other past corrupt regimes just to mention but a few. Politicians see themselves as gods or colossuses and we petty men and women walk and peep about under their huge feet only to find ourselves dishonourable graves.

If we want to bring about sanity in Nigerian polity, we should first and foremost make remuneration to politicians and political office holders far less attractive than what it is today. I suggest that the salary of a Nigerian president should be twice that of a Nigerian professor. Salary of governors should be one and half times that of a professor while that of senators and ministers should be equal to that of a professor. In addition all the allowances paid to political office holders should be reduced by 90%. For example some governors get security budget of N200 – N300 million every month, which they give no account for.

In other words all politicians and political office holders should get only 10% of all the allowances they are paid today. However in addition to that, every politician who completes an entire four year period of his tenure or eight year period if re-elected for a second term should be paid some lump sum money as a kind of gratuity to enable them build one or two houses in any town they like to reside after their retirement from politics. I suggest a sum of N100, 000,000.00 (one hundred million naira) for a president, N70, 000,000.00 for governors, N50, 000,000.00 for members of house of senate or representatives and ministers. Local government chairmen should be paid N30, 000,000.00 and councillors N15, 000.000.00. Let only people who are really interested in serving the nation come and render service to the nation. They should render a monthly or quarterly account of how they have spent public money and their accounts must be verifiable and auditable.

Lol

Currently, we spend about 30% of our income to run the country. That means the salaries and bonus of all our governors, house of assembly member, senate etc is about 30% of nigeria earnings. We have not even talked about money that is directly stolen and those indirectly stolen thgrough inflation of contracts. If the real value is calculated, we will find out that 70% of the nations wealth are going to less that 0.5% of the population.

God has blessed nigeria with enough wealth to take care of our large population but because of poor judgment, its all wasting away.

^^^ It is rather unfortunate how the money has been spent and continue to be spent