Nwabueze, Falana Challenge NASS Over Jumbo Allowances 
Published on August 30, 2010 by TheNEWS · 1 Comment
As Nigerians groan under the harsh economic challenges confronting them on a daily basis, the anger over the astronomical sums of money which members of the National Assembly have appropriated for themselves has continued to increase since the figures became public recently.
Femi-Falana
Prof. Ben Nwabueze, the Chairman of The Patriots and vice-chairman of the Presidential Advisory Council, from his resting bed in London picked holes in the legality of the jumbo allowances for federal lawmakers and sought for their prosecution for increasing their allowances by over 100 per cent above what the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission recommended for them.
This call was heeded by the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, which dragged the Federal Government before a Federal High Court over the issue. The group is challenging the jumbo pay which members of the National Assembly approved for themselves without recourse to the RMAFC, which is constitutionally empowered to fix salaries and allowances for public officers.
The NBA is praying the court to restrain the Senate President, House of Representatives Speaker and members of the National Assembly from collecting or receiving any salaries and allowances or any other payment in excess of the amount determined by RMAFC for them.
Mr. Falana averred that having handled a number of criminal cases, he knows as a fact, that the increasing incidence of armed robbery, kidnapping, assassination, drug trafficking and other violent crimes are due to the profligacy of elected public officers.
—Nnamdi Felix/ Abuja
Nigerian leadership right from the roguish ruling political party-PDP embraces corruption and cherishes looting of our national treasuries hence,the lukeworm attitude of PDP top leadership to the illegal jumbo salaries and allowances being collected quarterly by the inept senators and reps in the National Assembly, as long as office holders and top members of PDP contribute 10% of their earnings or embezzlemed public funds to the PDP headquarters,it’s okay for its members who were selected and installed into the senate and house of reps in 2007 by Chief Obasanjo during the do-or-die election that ushered into office all sorts of miscreants and political imbeciles in nigeria.People of credible service record to the fatherland did not get the chance to get into the National Assembly because,it was God-father;s autocratic system not democracy as Nigerian did not vote for most of them during the elections hence,lawmakers and other political office holders have no intrest or fair for the masses.Only way out is making all votes count in 2011 and ensuring Nigerians votes count and annoiunce as real elected representatives of the people.Nigeria spends too much [80&] of its funds on paying lawmakers salaries and allowances/consituency projects’funds which lawmakers collect annually but no visible infrastructures on the ground in any law makers constituency as such fund were embezzled by lawmakers.Even,the glaring looting and scams of N9 b naira capital fund in the house of reps,N2.5 b naira REA fund,N2.3 b naira peugeot cars scam which the progressive law makers led by honourable Dino Melaye protested about that they were unconstitutionally suspended from the house of reps had been swept under carpet.Those suspended lawmakers represent their people and constituencies and it was very unconstitutional for Bankole led house to have suspended them without and intervention from the Nigerians and PDP leadership. Dr Pat Kolawole Awosan,Canada.