Our undistinguished senators

Like a sore thumb, our Senate must always stick out for the wrong reasons. It is increasingly clear that the cavernous chamber of the National Assembly is enough to dull one’s senses or how else do we explain some of their decisions and actions last week? From the ‘termination’, whatever that means, of the famous contract with SystemSpecs, the indigenous software company behind Remita, a nightmare for our thieving politicians and civil servants, to the decision to probe Multichoice, operators of DSTV, and the setting up of a committee to probe why industries are comatose in our country, one was left more confused about their roles. But none trumps, in insensitivity and callousness, like the purchase of exotic cars for their president, a man in court for lying under oath. It was the icing on their cake of infamy last week.

A former colleague of mine, Cheta Nwanze, whom I’m glad to say I was part of his ‘conversion’ to journalism because he joined us then as a computer geek, shouted himself hoarse as the elections approached last year that the National Assembly elections were more important than the presidential and governorship ones. Painfully, most of us did not listen as we were caught in the Buhari-Jonathan bitter feud forcing us to end up with folks we neither nominated nor supported as our senators and representatives.

Pray, what’s their business with a private enterprise like Multichoice? Diligent readers of this page will know that I’m no fan of the company as I had once written that you can do without them as there are alternatives – I stopped subscribing nearly a year ago and my quality of life had not depreciated. A senator from Bauchi State,  Isah Misau, sponsored the motion titled “Concern on Unwholesome Practices by Multichoice Nigeria (DSTV) and subsequently the Senate directed the Committees on Information and Trade and Investment to investigate and consider summoning the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and the Consumer Protection Council (CPC). An innocent observer could have applauded the senators for their interest in a matter of great concern to the citizens.

Quick research, however, by their aides, would have revealed that the CPC just rolled out a new set of guidelines for Multichoice operations in Nigeria, which the company has said it will comply with and these addressed most of the concerns by frustrated subscribers. They also came with a time frame for compliance and the company has actually rolled out a new package ostensibly to address the issue of football matches that Misau spoke about while moving his motion.  But how many of our senators read any other thing except their bank statements? How many hire the aides specified by the National Assembly Commission? How many operate constituent offices as opposed to campaign headquarters that majority had?

Any one with an iota of shame should not be surprised by the boastful claims of Dino Melaye, (Kogi, APC) ostensibly supported by Bukola Saraki, the senate president, that the committee set up to probe Remita operations did a good job by recommending that the Federal Government should “urgently terminate the 2013 contract between the Central Bank and SystemSpecs,” a resolution which the Senate passed. It also halted further deductions the Federal Government could have pid to SystemSpecs based on the charge of one per cent transaction fee for all collections. Are there no lawyers in the Senate for God’s sake? Can a Senate resolution vitiate the terms and agreements of a valid contract? At about the same time in far away Saudi Arabia, President Muhammadu Buhari told a gathering of Nigerians living in that country that the “Central Bank has mopped N2.6 trillion through TSA” and that’s what our senators said should be cancelled? While our president has a lot of challenges one of which is his peripatetic presidency, it is clear that senators are not with him in the war against corruption.

Nothing turns one’s stomach more than the purchase of exotic cars at an estimated cost of N330 million going by the current market rate for Saraki. Three Toyota Prado SUVs and one Mercedes Benz S500 have been delivered to the National Assembly at a time when many Nigerians have not been paid their salaries and are finding it difficult to survive. The defence by Saraki’s spokesperson, Yusuph Olaniyonu, an otherwise respectable gentleman, showed the kind of insular life our senators are living. These folks are a drain on our commonwealth; the earlier we followed Senegal, which scrapped her senate, the better for us.

No Banking Day

It was with delight and anger that I listened to Sola Salako, a consumer rights advocate, last Monday evening on Radio Continental as she explained in detail how our banks are ripping us off. Anger that we are being fleeced by those we keep our money with, but delight that some people are rallying Nigerians to do something about it. Stay away from banking halls tomorrow, March 1, do not use ATMs or POS and make no purchase online. Let’s show the banks that customers are truly the kings.