Abdul Ningi and the hornet’s net
SIR: In the comfort of his most private moments, that is if he finds comfort anywhere or in anything these days, Abdul Ningi, the senator representing Bauchi Central in the National Assembly may be forced into a rethink. With the aid of a sober reflection, he may be compelled to lament the situation where he levelled allegations of budget padding at Nigeria’s premier legislative institution.
Could he have shown more respect? Did his fidelity to his constituents in Bauchi Central and the Senate where he is a ranking member warrant that he show more respect to authority? In a country where heinous crimes are committed against millions of people under a hush by those in positions of power, maybe Ningi should have kept mute and kept his place at the fattening table where the fattened calves are Nigerians themselves and their resources? Now that he has cupped himself a three month suspension from the powers that be in the Senate, he will surely have enough time for introspection and circumspection. In Nigeria, the budget is everything. A behemoth bureaucratic bequest from which every other banquet big and small is arranged, the annual budget is not as bogus as it implies or even as unwieldy. As a historic fiscal and macroeconomic resource on which governments are run, the budget in Nigeria is the dizzying culmination of Nigeria’s public and private financial hopes.
What did Ningi say that has not been said previously? Budget padding, used to be a taboo word, but not anymore. It was discovered long ago that some Nigerian legislators with extensive networks in the National Assembly, and nothing but loyalty to their private pockets had perfected the art of stealing Nigerians blind by manipulating the chief instrument of public finance. Their way of operation was to inflate the figures designated for projects in the budget and channel the extra money to their private pockets. The chilling subterfuge was another powerful demonstration of the pervasive corruption crippling Nigeria.
The leadership of the Nigerian Senate may feel embarrassed by Ningi’s utterances. Godswill Akpabio, the Senate president, has described his actions as defying the authority of the Senate. It may be. But lest the Senate argues that Ningi’s chilling revelations are an in- house matter, issues surrounding Nigeria’s budget, bogged down over the years by corruption, are very much public issues. Indeed, they take the nature of a public emergency. All those involved must be uncovered and punished.
Nigeria’s flawed federalism has done nothing but caused problems for the country since a triumphant return to democracy in 1999. The Executive has often proven itself grasping and greedy. The legislature has been all too easy to cow and manipulate. The judiciary has often seen its independence eroded by corruption and a lack of financial autonomy. All these have shaped into a coup against the Nigerian people.
Nigerians have come to be defined more by hope than expectation. They barely expect anything good to come from their government. They just stay and hope that something good happens to them. This has become the fate of many people in Africa’s most populous country. There is docility powered by resignation to a phantom powerlessness. This in turn emboldens those in positions of authority to act with irritating impunity, safe in the knowledge that nothing will happen to them.
This approach and counterapproach will colour the conversation over Ningi’s weighty allegations in the next few days. From past experience, observers can conclude that the uproar will yield nothing in a country where impunity is the intimidating insignia of public office.