The 469 problems of Nigeria By Etcetera

An average Nigerian is just a political bystander. Many of them don’t know who their local government chairmen and councillors are and what they are elected to do. But let’s forget about the local government chairmen and councillors; they have never been useful to us, anyway. Let’s talk about the ‘bigger fishes’ — the guys in the National Assembly.

The ordinary Nigerian does not have the constitutional authority to vote on appropriations, but the guys in the National Assembly do. An average Nigerian does not set fiscal policy; our representatives in the National Assembly do. The ordinary Nigerian, even though most of their daily activities revolve around money, does not control monetary policy; the guys in the National Assembly do. The National Assembly consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives, made up of 109 senators and 360 members respectively. When both are added up, it gives 469. These 469 people are the 469 problems the country has been plagued with since 1999.

Let’s take a look at the fraud played on the masses by these 469 men and women. Since 1999, these men and women have spent so much money and energy convincing you and I that the deplorable state of the nation has got nothing to do with them. The disagreement they’ve often had on almost every issue raised on the floor of the House has been blamed on party differences, but in defrauding Nigerians, they have always cooperated and differences in their political parties have never been an issue. They are quick to exonerate themselves and make it seem like the President is the cause of all the country’s problems. They wrote the constitution in a way that the President is shackled only to the powers to propose bills. And they have made it certain that he cannot force them to accept the bills. They fashioned the constitution in a way that it awards them the sole responsibility of originating appropriations. For instance, the Senate President and his fellow senators can approve any budget they want. Even if the President vetos it, they can go ahead and pass it over his veto. They are the people responsible for all the problems we are facing as a nation.

Since 1999, these 469 men and women have effortlessly dangled over 160 million Nigerians like puppets. Of course, they didn’t forget to tweak the law to shield themselves from prosecutions. Have you heard that no matter the level of crime committed, they cannot be arrested on the grounds of the National Assembly? Mehn, what a job to have! This is by far the easiest job in the country with the fattest remuneration. You get so relaxed that all you do is sleep and snore during deliberations and get paid for it. For Christ’s sake, who gets paid for sleeping and snoring? It has become very inconceivable to me that a country of over 160 million people cannot replace these 469 men and women who stand convicted by the present facts of incompetence and irresponsibility. It will do us a whole lot of good if everyone of these men and women is voted out and replaced with fresh thinkers in the coming general elections.

You can’t think of a single problem we are facing as a nation — from bad roads to the decay in our education and health sector and non-implementation of budgets — that is not traceable to these 469 guys. When you really understand the truth that these guys exercise so much power than any other arm of government, then you will understand that what exists is what they want to exist. If the state allocations are unfair, it is because they want it unfair. If the national treasury is empty, it is because they want it empty. If our soldiers are deployed anywhere, it is because they want them there. There are no insoluble government problems. These 469 men and women are damn lazy, even lazier than our court judges and their white lazy wigs. Let’s stop allowing these 469 men and women in the ancient trade of laziness transfer the blames of their incompetence to other arms of government, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish whenever they want.

Let’s stop them from further fooling us with the same lame excuses of the existence of cabals and mystical forces affecting the economy and causing inflation. They have blamed these mystical forces as what prevent them from doing what they took oaths to do. These 469 men and women alone should be held responsible for every setback we have as a nation. They and they alone have the power, so they and they alone should be held accountable by the masses who are supposed to be their bosses, that is if Nigerians are enlightened enough to know that they have the power as bosses to fire or recall anyone of these lazy 469 representatives back to their constituencies.