BY JOHN STEPHEN 

Recently trending and dominating discussions and discourse in the various media platforms is the acceptance, denials and counter denials by some members of National Assembly on whether there were given or allocated grains worth of N200m for Senators and N100m for members of House of Representatives by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to share to their constituents to cushion the debilitating effect of subsidy removal or not. 

This development was brought to fore or public knowledge, when some NASS members shared their own rice during the Yuletide/ New year celebrations and further confirmed that all members of NASS were given or allocated grains to share to their constituents as well. 

Ad

Since then, the social media has been agog and buzzing as constituents insisted on getting their own share of the palliative and demanded for immediate accountability from their National Assembly representatives on the matter.

Unfortunately and  further complicating and compounding the matter is the fact that while some of the NASS members who shared their own rice made it clear that they were palliatives given to them by the President, others claimed that they bought the rice they shared from their pockets.

Who do Nigerians believe now? Is there two or different NASS in Nigeria where some members will be given palliatives to share to their constituents and others will not be given? The answer is NO. There are no two different NASS in Nigeria.

From all indications and findings, palliative grains or cash equivalent were given or allocated to all NASS members to share to their constituents to cushion the effect of the subsidy removal.

Anyone who understands or knows the understanding, conspiracy and camaraderie between National Assembly and the Presidency before now needs no evidence or prophecy to know that NASS members got the palliative mostly in cash and decided what to do with it. That is the style and modus operandus since 1999. Nothing much has changed and nothing much may change if they are not resisted vehemently by the people. It is a case of rub  my back and I will rub your back. The public denial by some NASS members is needless, shameful, disappointing and hypocritical. Constituents' insistence on getting the palliatives is in order because they were given or allocated to their NASS representatives to give them and not to divert, corner or emblezzle as usual. 

Meanwhile, despite the fact that investigations had revealed that each federal lawmaker had since  October 2023 got approval to distribute grains worth between N100m and N200m as palliatives to their constituents, many members of the National Assembly are still living in denial as majority of their constituents celebrated Christmas and the New Year in hunger. 

The National Assembly in July last year, approved a request by President Bola Tinubu to appropriate N500 billion for palliatives to cushion the effects of the removal of the petrol subsidy on Nigerians.The Federal Parliament on July 13, 2023, passed a bill seeking to amend the 2022 Supplementary budget of N819 billion, out of which N500 billion would be used as palliatives to cushion the effect of subsidy removal.

The 2022 supplementary Appropriation Bill was earlier passed by the Ninth Assembly and assented to by former President Muhammadu Buhari for the purpose of addressing flooding that affected parts of the country in 2022.

Ad

The Money Bill was however amended by the 10th Assembly so that the Presidency could access N500 billion in view of the exigency of the subsidy removal palliatives.

Investigations revealed that members of the National Assembly before the Bill was passed, expressed serious concerns over the transparency and effectiveness that would be deployed in the distribution of the items to vulnerable Nigerians.

They were said to have allegedly struck a deal with the executive arm of government that they had to be involved in the distribution since they represented their various constituencies.

It was gathered that a gentleman agreement was reached that would enable each member of the House of Representatives to distribute grains worth N100m while their colleagues in the Senate would distribute N200m grains and other food items each.

Further checks revealed that the parliamentarians got presidential approval in October, 2023 when each of the 469 members of the National Assembly were said to have been directed to procure the grains through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security. It was confirmed that  many of the lawmakers agreed to delay the sharing of the grains till December so that their constituents would not disturb them again for Christmas Rice during the Yuletide.

The Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Social Media, Olusegun Dada, has since officially confirmed the development. 
  Dada, on his official X handle, said his principal approved the distribution of palliative items worth N200 million to senators and palliative items worth N100 million to House of Representatives members.

According to him, “After initial logistics delay, I can now confirm that Senators and members of the House of Representatives have started taking stock of the Federal Government’s palliative items for their constituents as part of efforts to ease life for all NigeriansEach HoR member received items worth N100m while Senatorial constituencies got palliative items worth N200m”.

Flowing from this information, Leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, according to a statement by his media office during the yuletide, celebrated the season with his constituents in Ekiti Central Senatorial District when he distributed 3,000 bags of rice to them.

Similarly, the lawmaker representing Ayedire/Iwo/Olaoluwa Federal constituency, Hon. Mudashiru Lukman (L&K) on  December 29, 2023, distributed 1,500 bags of rice as palliative to his constituents.Speaking during the distribution exercise which took place at Iwo City Hall, the lawmaker said the rice would be distributed to the 35 electoral wards in the three local governments, adding that some non-political groups would also benefit from the foodstuff.

Meanwhile, in a viral video during the festive season, Hon. Dekeri Anamero, who represents the Etsako federal constituency of Edo state in the National Assembly, said he got six trailer load of rice for distribution to his constituents from the Federal Government. Anamero, who is also a governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2024 Edo Governorship Election, said the N100 million worth of rice was supplied through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.

Anamero said, “President Bola Tinubu ordered the Ministry of Agriculture to allocate N100 million worth of rice and other grains to each of the 360 House of Representatives members to share to their constituents in December. For the 109 senators, the allocation was N200m worth of rice palliatives for each of them to share. Please my people, did your honourable members or senators share Tinubu’s rice in your constituency this Christmas? Don’t mind if they branded it with their pictures,” he said.

The lawmaker said he got 2,400 25kg bags of rice for distribution.
The revelation by Anamero did not go down well with many of his colleagues who did not share any paliative to their people who celebrated the Yuletide in hunger.Many of them either granted press interviews or issued press statements to debunk the claims by Anamero but it was too late.

With this clear and shocking disclosure by Hon. Anamero and President Tinubu's media aide, which had not been countered by any other superior evidence or argument, why are some NASS members still denying not receiving any palliative in cash or grains? Where are their conscience? Is this the kind of representation they want to offer their constituents after being supported and voted into office? This is highly despicable and avaricious. 

Lest we have forgotten, this is not the kind of information the NASS members will like or wish their constituents to know. This is because NASS members have always see their office as their business centres, where they must recoup profit from their investments at the detriment of their constituents that voted them into office to represent them. 

Meanwhile, if it is true that some members have not gotten or taken delivery of their own, they should hasten do so and share it to their constituents because they are for them and for lawmakers' keep. 

For those who claimed they have not received any palliative, but bought what they shared from their pockets, that should not be an excuse not to share the palliatives to the constituents, when taken delivery of them. The constituents should keep tab on their NASS representatives and  stand their ground in demanding for the palliatives and accountability. Sweeping it under the carpet will embolden the NASS to divert, corner or embezzle more democracy dividends meant for the people and turn around to use it to oppress, intimidate and buy them during elections.