Beyond the hidden N10 Billion loans

The House of Representatives is moving far away from observing and following due process. Laid down procedures count for nothing; ignored at best, House leaders follow their heads and use their hands to garner benefits for themselves and their ilk. There are rules, there are laws, and there are procedures cum regulations, but all of these are buried in books and, in their place, personal desires and whims take centre stage. The worst example of this deliberate disregard for the nation's appropriation acts, rules and due process was the N10 billion loans taken by the House under the leadership of Mr. Dimeji Bankole. It is very unethical and unacceptable to take loans to run the House despite billions of naira in revenue allocations and budgets set aside for the House. The crimes here are beyond the fact that members were kept in the dark about this unwholesome disregard for due process, but the knack to break the law and the audacity to do so. The effrontery of Mr. Bankole and a few cabals in the House to borrow money - big or small - from banks without regard for the law of the land is at issue here. Did the House not approve the nation's budget and its own? Did the leadership of the House not prepare its budgetary plans and financial estimates and included these in the approved national budget? That Mr. Bankole and his co-travelers will approach banks for loan is just criminal and unimaginable; it is a grotesque act never heard before.

 We need not compare our nation to other nations in the world; we only need to look at our laws, procedures and policies if any of these made room for the House to borrow money to finance itself and pay bills and allowances. The Bankole-led House is not the first in the nation's history, yet it threw cautions to the wind to depart from due process and laid down rules. There is the likelihood that the membership of the House would have refused and turned down any request to borrow if the issue was discussed, or at least an open, floor-of-the-house discussion would have brought the idea of borrowing to finance the House's business to the attention of Nigerians. Of course, this would have generated national debate and drew legal actions and recourses. It was the desperate desire of Mr. Bankole to obtain the loans, which grew to 10 billion after the third borrowing, and to get it at all cost which informed the hush-hush in which the three loans were procured without the knowledge of most of the majority of the House. It appeared that the desperation and desire to borrow was discussed among a few within the leadership of the House and quickly rushed through without the knowledge of the majority. There is no doubt that personal interests and gains played major roles in the procurement of the loans.

The first loan was a N1.5 billion said to have been taken to settle a debt owed to the Senate. The second (N2.5 billion) and the third loans (N6 billion) were said to have been used to run the House. You then wonder about what happened to the budget and allocations of the House. The National Assembly was allocated N127.7 billion for the 2010 financial year, which was an increase of nearly 7% over its 2009 allocation. What happened to N127.7 billion? Why is this huge amount not enough to run the business of the National Assembly in a nation where the majority cannot get one decent meal a day? It is an open secret that the House and the Senate live way above their allocations and well beyond their means. They live large and expect the taxpayers to pick up the bills. The National Assembly got nearly as much as the allocations for Health (N162 billion) and Power (N157 billion), a clear indication of misplaced priority as pointed out by Hussaini Abdu of Aid Nigeria. But this allocation was not enough and never will be enough for a House of Representatives and Senate that tend to act like money grow on trees. If the House will not cut its dress according to available material, but will rather ask the tailor for a babariga when the material is only enough get him a danshiki, then we have problems there. This problem has persisted for the whole duration of this Republic. The Senate and the House of Representatives (I often call the members legislooters) have behaved like a pack of rodents determined to rake in as much as possible for themselves. The House leadership is obviously very irresponsible and surely unfit to manage the resources of the Nigerian people.

The remarks of some in the House are not shocking at all; they are true to character. Farouk Lawan from Kano blamed the irresponsible act on "communication gap between the leadership and members"! This is a "communication gap" that will set the Nigerian people back by as much as N10 billion! Who is fooling who in this modern age and time? Who is dinning, wining, borrowing and breaking the law of the land to satisfy its greed? It took a disgruntled member to expose these shameful and reckless actions of the House and the best the House has done is to try and cover things up! Nigerians cannot trust this House, a house built on sands and the personal desires of its members. The EFCC should not wait to be told that it has to get involve in this and begin a full investigation on how these illegal acts of borrowings went down. Mr. Bankole and his co-travelers should be invited for questioning and charges brought against everyone who committed the House to illegal loans. One other member, Ita Enang, sadly the Chairman of the House Committee on Rules and Business, blamed it all on "hitches." We are looking at a N10 billion hitches!

The House is spending what the nation do not have and one member summed the criminal actions as "hitches" and another member, Independence Ogunewe, from Imo State told journalists that it was taxpayers who will suffer the consequences! I guess these are exactly what the people wish to hear from those representing them. When did the free reign to borrow directly from banks and ignore procedures and rules become so blatant in the House? How long will these criminal acts go on before appropriate actions are taken to address these excesses and abuses? It is shocking that the House is suddenly wishing these huge problems away and even going a step further to borrow more money from other banks. Fiscal responsibility does not exist in the House of Representatives and Mr. Dimeji Bankole should be held responsible for the recklessness we are witnessing today. It is good that Mr. Bankole lost his seat in the last election and this should allow for adequate investigation and prosecution of these sordid crimes against the people of Nigeria. Above all, the budget of the National Assembly must be cut substantially to reflect national reality and in line with salaries and allowances in the Nigerian Public Service. It should also mean paying sitting allowances to senators and members rather than allowing them to fix outrageous salaries and allowances for themselves thereby making mockery of democracy and due process.