Nigeria’s legislators: Rep, senator or member of…

From the ancient Athenian use, the word legislature was associated with a European monarch who hosted the assembly of the nobility. Based on available records, the earliest record of the legislature was the Icelandic Althing founded in 930CE. In its original form, nobody of flawed nobility in character and wealth of knowledge was invited. A major function of these noble people is to discuss issues that are affecting society and beyond these represent the interests of their constituencies.

Checking on the original use of the word- senate/tor, it is also from the Latin- ‘senatu’. This refers to senators who must be mature (wo)men who had lived long enough to have gained experience and wisdom. The goal of a senator, being elderly with wisdom, is legacy and not acquisition.

I have to establish the foregoing in light of the ongoing conversations around Nigeria’s national as well as state assembly components. Presently Nigerians face a hard time occasioned by harsh economic realities among other seemingly unsurmountable challenges.

Given the background of an average legislator, either in the House of Representatives or Senate chamber earning over ₦20 million monthly in the face of many impoverished Nigerians who are mostly living on less than $2 (equivalent of ₦3,000 per day) while they (both the executive and legislative arms) continue to appeal to Nigerians to exercise patience call for concerns.

Maybe we can begin by assessing who an honourable representative and senator should be in an ideal society. Given the Nigerian constitution, a representative who made it to the national assembly should carry the burden of an average of 250,000 or more on his/her shoulder while a senator should be the eye and burden bearer for an average of 750,000 Nigerians.

The conclusion of this is not far-fetched given the number of federal constituencies as well as senatorial districts we have, any dummy can do the maths. A true representative is selected, elected to act and speak on behalf of a wider audience with a burning passion to continuously seek the well-being of the represented.

A repetitive act of doing business on behalf of others who s/he daily represents and carries their burden. A representative should be an ambassador, a servant/minister for the populace s/he stands for. S/he is supposed to be a distributor of value an emissary who diligently seeks information which can be of value to the constituency.

A true representative is first to wear the above regalia, before the second nomenclature, being a member of the House of Representatives or ‘the green chamber’ as we have it in Nigeria, becomes the norm.

Where a representative sees him/herself first as a member of a house of representative, the order is already misplaced. Being a member of the House of Representatives confers honour, power and a level of eminency that will make an individual forget s/he is wearing the toga of a servant.

Again, the same applies to a senator. A senator is also supposed to be an elderly person (in terms of knowledge of politics, finance, economy etc) with the ability to apply such in ensuring the country and his/her entire senatorial districts can be fed from such wealth of knowledge. When a senator first identifies as a member of the senate chamber over being a distributor of knowledge and guiding the populace, executive on the ways to make life easy and healthy for members of the society, the value becomes misplaced.

In a society that can hardly survive, information available claims many members of the House of Representatives and Senate are given an SUV, Toyota brand, worth about $150,000. Each goes home monthly with an average pay of ₦20 million and is collecting or had collected an amount close to ₦500 million or ₦500 million constituency allowance did point to the fact that we have members of the House of Representatives or senate in Nigeria.

The aura and privileges of the office might have made many of them forget their status is held in trust by the majority of Nigerians they represent.

It is true we have information that three of the members of the House of Representatives refused to accept the official car allotted to them because, in their estimation, the suffering of the majority they represent may not allow such luxury.

Nigerians may just for now accept the realities of their suffering as long as our representatives, senators think first of themselves as members of a hallowed chamber, where benefits becloud the realities of the suffering majority are going through when compared to the privileged few.