Japheth Omojuwa: #OurNASS – The legitimization of waste (Y! FrontPage)

by Japheth Omojuwa

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 This is one more opportunity to make a demand on our society and its so-called democracy. Some have said this will not achieve anything. Some have offered other ideas even they are not even willing to get started. These ideas often come in the face of efforts by others to do something.

A Nigerian Senator goes home with N400 million every year. If this does not look absurd to you, it’d be because of the reality of madness that has since pervaded our country. Nothing should justify this level of abnormality in a country where all the indices of development are either on the downward spiral or stagnant with nothing to write home about. If this was the reason Abraham Lincoln said all those nice words about democracy, I believe Nigeria’s 71.2% poverty clan would rather choose any other form of government less the one where they’d be fooled about the tenets of democracy and its values while the so called leaders milk the nation dry at their expense. This piece is not so much about the Lawmakers as it is about those of us who think nothing can be done.

There are 469 men and women in the National Assembly. This number has milked N1 trillion since 2005. While surviving on N50 billion during the President Obasanjo years, a lot of political trading over the years has meant that they collect N150 billion every year. That’s three times the number for the previous years while Nigerians poverty rate has increased over the period. There has been a lot of public outcry from all and sundry on the pay of these legislators but there has been no wide scale protest to register this anger. The #OurNASS protests scheduled for tomorrow will be the first. There is a huge chance even this protest will not achieve much but there is no chance of changing anything by giving up. Over the years we have clamoured for change but what we have hardly done is commit to it. We are overly dependent on God while God looks on trusting us to use our will and strength to make change happen.

We expect immediate rewards all the time. We don’t tap into our human ability to be persistent in the face of failure until results are achieved. This is one more opportunity to make a demand on our society and its so-called democracy. Some have said this will not achieve anything. Some have offered other ideas even they are not even willing to get started. These ideas often come in the face of efforts by others to do something. We have become a people who never agree while our politicians, united more often than not, by the ideology of money continue to find agreement even when they disagree. The National Assembly protests start at 10am tomorrow, at FCT Abuja’s Eagle Square. There are plans to hold a supportive march at the Lagos State House of Assembly while plans are in place to have follow-up nationwide protests depending on what steps the National Assembly takes after tomorrow’s action.

We are doing something about our anger. That is the least expected of us. Here’s hoping that more of us will find reason to join in and make this system understand we are in it together.

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

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