“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”, Charles Dickens writes in the opening lines of his popular novel, “A Tale of Two Cities”. He paints a picture of life in England and France. The year was 1775. Today, the theme of this classic novel is very relevant and applicable to the near strange things happening in the cities of Abuja and that of Ekiti as we speak.
The news filtered out a couple of weeks ago from the seat of power in Abuja, that an exotic Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) costing N160m for each of the members of the National Assembly was in the offing. The reason adduced was that the car is sophisticated enough to ease their legislative duties, particularly, their oversight functions.
But in another city that is close by, Ekiti, in Ekiti State, Governor Biodun Oyebamiji, the man that is apparently the delight of his people magnanimously announced giving out car loan worth N136m to 358 Civil Servants. N160m worth of car to a single head in the name of being a federal legislature, and in the same country, a paltry N136m to serve similar purpose for 358 Civil Servants.
This will no doubt naturally elicit reactions from Nigerians. I may not know your views and thoughts out there as individuals on this issue, but to me and to people of good conscience, this is outrageous, barbaric and glaringly inexplicable. The differential ratio between N380,000 and N163m is huge, discriminative and mind boggling. After all, both monies are to be taken from the public purse. It is simply not defendable either before the thrones of the kings, or that of the God Almighty.
Trust Nigerians, they will not allow such an act of mindless insensitivity to go unchallenged. Not this time when the only hope of the people is hinged on the Renewed Hope mantra of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (PBAT). Despite the fact that people are bearing the brunts of the tough and excruciating economic policies of the Federal Government, they still see some light at the end of the tunnel. In fact, they see hope of better days ahead. And that is what is sustaining them at this crucial moment. They simply keep hope alive!
But it is unheard of and unpleasant too that in the face of this terrible condition, the supposedly representatives of the people agreed in their wisdom that an idea of imported SUVs for their use is not only timely, but the best way to go.
It is on record that Senator Sunday Karimi, Chairman Senate Committee on Services, explained that the leadership of the National Assembly made this choice for lawmakers based on considerations of durability and maintenance over a four-year period. That was the excuse given by one of them. Will the cars of ordinary Nigerians not be plying the same Nigeria roads? Do those cars not also deserve to enjoy some level of durability? Whose responsibility is it to fix Nigeria roads?
Taking a spontaneous action on the issue, it was reported that the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) had applied for an interim and interlocutory injunction at the Federal High Court Lagos to stop the lawmakers from taking delivery of the SUVs.
Some Nigerians have even queried verbally if our lawmakers are patriotic at all. Why did they fail to patronize the Nigeria home made cars like that of Innoson Motors instead of importing Sports Utility Vehicles (SUV) in this era of the Naira free fall against the dollar? It has been established that our insatiable taste for imported goods and services contributes immensely to the foreign exchange mess in Nigeria and by implications, the reason for the perennial ailing economy.
Unfortunately, the same lawmakers who are expected to make laws that will engender policies for revamping the sick economy do not see anything wrong in promoting the very root cause of our economic woes.
For the sake of this argument, let’s even assume that the N136m is shared on the basis of equality amongst the 358 Ekiti workers, that means each of them will be entitled to approximately N380,000. Which brand of vehicle can one buy with N380,000 today? None. Not even Keke Napep or Okada can go for that amount. The money is just too meager to serve the purpose it was meant for. The best it can go for is for the beneficiary to settle some domestic debts and utilize the rest to feed his family.
This actually reinforces the agitation that Nigeria workers deserve a fair deal. But unfortunately, the institution that supposed to enact the appropriate legislations for that purpose are seemingly behaving like Slave Masters. Writing on the attributes of Slave Masters, Bangambiki Habyarimana, in his book of Wisdom says, “Those who would give us equal opportunity for everybody are threatened by it. They are afraid to lose their privileged positions. They pay lip service to it, they act by half measures and do everything to violate the laws they have themselves instituted to make sure the high class is always high. It never changes, it always goes in a circle, when the oppressed fight and get to the top, and they become the new elite and forget the promises”.
Nigeria democracy is typical of the story in the popular novel of George Orwell titled Animal Farm where the disgruntled animals revolted against the original owner of Manor Farm. They forcefully took over the control in order to establish an egalitarian society. They changed the name from Manor Farm to “Animal Farm” to portray the new order and entrench equality amongst animals. But they later reneged on their promises. At the end of the day, their initial slogan of “All animals are equal” employed to achieve the much desired freedom was later changed to, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”. That is the nature of man and that is the bane of our society.
There is no contention in the fact that there are general inequalities on earth as well as in heaven. Therefore, the federal lawmakers by virtue of their title and the office they occupy deserve some superior and preferential treatments, but the gulf should not be as wide and unimaginable as we see in this instance. Justice, fairness and equity is an integral part of good governance.
While this discriminative tendency portends the best of times for the lawmakers that enjoyed the largesse in Abuja, same could not be said about the Civil Servants in Ekiti. It is indeed, a tale of two cities in one nation!
B. Aderemi Ogundele
(Jagunmolu)
