The National Assembly (NASS) is in the eye of the storm on account of its expenditure on official cars members need for their legislative duties. It is pertinent to emphasise that this newspaper is not holding brief for the lawmakers on this score. They are more than competent to argue their own case. We are, by no means, encouraging profligacy bordering on concupiscence in all the arms of government. Much as we feel revulsed by the wasteful propensities of those we elected into public offices in both the executive and legislative arms, it will be fair not to single out one arm as the guilty party.
This editorial is set on demanding that the government make public how much it spends on official cars for ministers, ministers of state, special advisers and senior special assistants the same way the money the legislators get is made public. That will enable Nigerians to do a comparative analysis so as to be able to put expenditure on this single item in government budget in its proper perspective.
For the record, lawmakers, at both state and federal levels, are highly placed political office holders who are entitled to, by virtue of the office they occupy, chauffeur-driven official cars. That ought to be too mundane for anyone to contest. As much as we know, lawmakers at both Senate and House do not get this as of right and are compelled to apply for car allowances to be able to purchase vehicles they require for official duties.
Already, the media is awash with reports about how NASS spent N53.7 billion on cars alone in 12 years. That is to say, from 2011 to 2023. That, on all counts, is wasteful if the cars were bought for the private use of the members. Such information is news because, over the years, NASS, unfortunately, has accumulated odious image for itself that denies them public sympathy even when they rightly need it. They are often accused of budget padding, allocating to themselves outrageous allowances and other benefits in addition to the abuse of their corruption-induced constituency allowances and the application of their oversight functions on the executive arm.
Those are faults for which the lawmakers can only have themselves to blame. But on this car issue, it is important for the public to draw a line between official car used for that purpose and state-funded cars used by the lawmakers for matters that are not relevant to their office.
We are persuaded to argue that the lawmakers are the true representatives of the Nigerian people. The Assembly is the authentic bastion of democracy any where in the world and when Donald Trump and his gang in the United States of America thought otherwise, they are being made to pay the price. The laws they make direct the lives of the people and actually dictates how other arms of government function.
But in Nigeria, the lawmakers have so debased themselves to the point that they are being put on the chopping block on account of a benefit less relevant officials of government take literally for granted. Why should cars for lawmakers be an issue? Because they asked for it by the way they reduced their worth in the eyes of discerning Nigerians who have gone to the extent of using them as parameters for measuring the depth of corruption in official circles. And, also, the high cost of governance.
But that, in our opinion, ought not to be the case. We stand to be corrected if we posit that the main culprit when it comes to wasteful spending is the executive branch. What NASS spends on cars is petty cash and pales in significance when compared with what the government splashes on ministers, special advisers, special assistants and other hangers-on for the same purpose.
We recall that the late Chief Bola Ige, as Minister of Power, lamented, publicly on assuming office, that he inherited a convoy of 17 cars for his office alone. No Senator, not even the Senate President, has 17 cars in his convoy. Even now, every minister uses a state car and back up car of the same make and model. That luxury is not available to any lawmaker. We must not forget that they are the ones who beat the streets canvassing for votes and took all the heat of anxiety and apprehension as the votes are counted.
The point we are compelled to make in this matter is that the lawmakers are being unfairly treated on this car issue. No minister or permanent secretary takes a car allowance to buy official car. They dictate the model of car they want and the government provides it as a matter of priority. This money spent by lawmakers, it must be clearly understood, is from already made provision for their transport allowances.
