35 Senators Have No Bills To Show in 2 Years After Earning Over N13 Billion...

I heard this news being mentioned on newspaper headline report this morning on radio and was shocked at the nature of the Nigerian senate.

How can 35 senators sit their asses in the Senate and be collecting fat over-bloated earnings for two years yet have not passed a single bill since? What are they doing there? Of what use are they to their constituency?

According to a report from The Nigerian Telegraph:

Despite receiving more than N13 billion in salaries, allowances and benefits that clearly positions members of the Nigerian Senate as the world’s best paid lawmakers, at least 35 serving senators have not listed a single Bill in their name since taking office in 2011, an investigation by The Nigerian Telegraph has shown.



Between 2011 and June 2013, each senator drew about N400 million in salaries, allowances, and self-allocated bonuses, according to details of lawmakers’ allowances, as well as listed earnings for federal lawmakers stipulated by the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).

The National Assembly is seen in some quarters as a huge drain to the nation’s finances.
For the 35 members, the sum for two years totals N13.2 billion, and N41 billion for all 109 members.

But while a majority of the lawmakers have made fair efforts at delivering in their primary lawmaking duties, sponsoring at least one Bill between June 2011 and June 2013, 35 of them have posted not one.

In that duration, 74 senators, an impressive figure relative to past years, sponsored and followed through with a minimum of at least one legislation apiece. A few presented more than a dozen Bills, with the Senate Majority Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba(PDP, Cross River), sponsoring the highest number, 25.

Other Senators, each with a minimum of 10 Bills are Ben Ayade (PDP Cross Rivers state) – 18 Bills; Ita Enang, (PDP Akwa Ibom) – 13 Bills; Dominic Obende, (ACN Edo) – 12 Bills; Smart Adeyemi, (PDP Kogi) – 11 Bills; and Ifeanyi Okowa, (PDP Delta) – 11 Bills.

At the bottom of the ranking are two states – Zamfara and Borno – with none of their Senators presenting a single Bill in two years.

Yerima

Even Senator Yerima, who is at the centre of the Child’s Rights Act controversy has not presented a Bill since he became a Senator.

Each Senator, according to RMAFC, is entitled to N8.2 million annually or N683,000 monthly as salaries. This salaries are exclusive of allowances such as estacodes, cars and furniture.

But the comprehensive compensation runs far higher into several millions per quarter of a year, as the legislators also approve what they call “running cost” to themselves. For “running cost”, each senator currently draws N45 million quarterly – about N180 million annually, in addition to the “meagre” salary.

Lawmakers, weary of the public’s outrage over their pay, are often quick to cite the few hundreds of thousands monthly as nothing exceptional or deserving of the aggressive attention they receive.

But despite the huge pay, quite little has been delivered on legislation since 2011, according to the Business and Rules committee.

Those without Bills in two years, as analysed by The Nigerian Telegraph, based on figures from the Senate committee on Business and Rules are:

Isn't it even amazing that David Mark former Senate 'Oga patapata' has also never raised a bill too? I also noticed there seems to be more northerners on this list. Yet the our Senate is ranked as the most expensive in the world...SMH

In the same voice of that famous sticker for lawyers I say; Wetin Senators Dey Do Sef?

You can read more on the story here.