Nigerians in Belgium have disagreed with the Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, over who is responsible for the high level of corruption in Nigeria. They accused senators and members of the House of looking only after their welfare and approving jumbo salaries and allowances for themselves to the detriment of the majority of the people.
They had met with Tambuwal in Brussels on Sunday at a session organised by Nigeria’s Ambassador to Belgium, Mr. Felix Awanbor.
President of Nigerians in the Diaspora, Belgium chapter, Chief Oliha Nweke, alleged that the lawmakers earned “fat” salaries despite the poor state of the nation’s economy.
He alleged that the details of their pay were in secrecy, adding that lawmakers aided and abetted corruption by “being unnecessarily wasteful and not giving us much on how they are tackling the problem of corruption.
He added, “Let us face the facts; we all know what our problem is. So, we should not bend it. It is not the lack of resources because we have the resources.
“Our problem is corruption. Your own arm of government, National Assembly, is believed to be the most corrupt. Can you tell us, Mr. Speaker, what is your salary?.”
However, Tambuwal disagreed with some of the views, saying there was “a perception problem about the National Assembly”.
He explained that many Nigerians formed negative opinions about the legislature because that was how the forces that did not want the National Assembly to be in existence would want to behave.
The Speaker also pointed out that Nigerians hardly bothered about what became of reports of the various probes conducted by the House and referred to the Executive arm for implementation.
Tambuwal cited the fuel subsidy probe conducted by the House, which “exposed monumental corruption on how a few people were using our collective wealth for their personal well-being in the name of fuel subsidy”.
He added, “The House uncovered over N2.6tn of public funds being diverted in the name of subsidy. We did our findings and passed the report to the executive. What did they do? Instead of implementing the report, they opted to engage a banker, who himself was known to have funded some of those who took fuel subsidy money, to do another report on subsidy.
“Even the committee headed by that banker could not help but indict some of those the House found wanting. As we speak, the arraignment of only a few of them has taken place and nobody is saying anything anymore.
“The National Assembly’s duty is to expose corruption, which is where our responsibility stops. If it is the duty of someone else to punish these offenders and they are not doing it that is not the problem of the National Assembly.
“Next time, when members of the executive come here, that is the question you should be asking them.”
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