4th May, 2011
Now that elections have been won and lost, we congratulate the winners but warn that the fate of the vanquished may befall them if they fail to perform to the expectations of the people.
During the just concluded general elections, out of 360 House of Representatives members, only 100 were re-elected, 253 of them failed at their party’s primaries or were simply sacked by voters on election day. Seven won election into the Senate.
Many senators will not also return when the Senate reconvenes in June. In the South West for instance, all the senators of the People’s Democratic Party with the exception of one were defeated at the election.
Some governors and many state lawmakers who sought re-election failed as they were rejected by the voters.
In recent years, members of the National Assembly have been excoriated for doing so little but earning so much. Their financial gains, including salaries and allowances, were labelled as “Jumbo Pay†while their performance was adjudged to be poor.
Many Nigerian voters cursed the lawmakers for their perceived laziness and inefficiency. The voters waited patiently for election to come to show them the way out and when it was time to decide, many cast their votes against them.
Now, with only 11 sittings left for them, what is even appalling is that there are still over 300 bills awaiting consideration by the House of Representatives.
For the federal lawmakers to deliberate on the pending bills, they will have to pass at least 27 bills in each of the remaining sitting days. This is unlikely, considering the fact that they had four years to pass these bills but did not.
The duty of political office holders is to make life better for Nigerians. Federal lawmakers for instance were elected to make laws that can enhance the wellbeing of the majority of Nigerians, but the outgoing lawmakers were more interested in making life more comfortable for themselves.
According to a media report, a Nigerian senator earned about six times the salary of U.S. President Barack Obama. A federal lawmaker in Nigeria earned in one year about 34 years salary of a lawmaker in India.
And so, as we congratulate the winners, we call on them to learn from the experience of those who were booted out.
With a transparent, free and fair election, a political office holder will have to perform to expectation to be re-elected. He or she will need to prove that he is worthy of the trust of the electorate. They will need to even prove that the general good supercedes their own selfish interest as it has been for many years.
Those who are seen as inefficient or lazy can be sure that the electorate are watching and will not spare them when the time comes.