Senators, Reps groan under unpaid campaign bank loans
Senators, Reps groan under unpaid campaign bank loans.
These are not the best of times for members of the National Assembly,
as commercial banks have launched fresh moves to recover billions of
naira from lawmakers spent during last year’s elections. Lawmakers,
particularly returnee Senators and Reps, are battling to stop moves by
some commercial banks to repossess their properties, following their
inability to pay back loans used in prosecuting their elections. Findings
by Ripples Nigeria show that some of the affected Senators are
predominantly from South-south, South-east and few states from
North-central and North-east. It is believed that they secured huge sums
as high as N300 million to secure their party’s tickets and for
campaign purposes. Aides to two Senators from from North-central
and the other from Southern states, who spoke with our correspondent,
said they contested against powerful forces and had to borrow money to
secure their return tickets to the National Assembly. The woes of lawmakers have been worsened by the delay in the payment of their statutory salaries and allowances. In
the past, lawmakers were paid promptly, sometimes before the end of
every month. Since President Muhammadu Buhari came in, the pattern has
changed. Lawmakers seldom get their salaries and allowances at the
end of the month. Sometimes, their payments are delayed till the second
or third week of the every month. The reoccurring delay in the
payment, has further compounded the plights of lawmakers. Banks now
charge them extra interest whenever they default in repaying their loans
at the end of every month.
Lawmakers also ran into troubled waters, following the disappearance of goodies and perks attached to juicy committees. The
implementation of Federal Government’s Treasury Single Account (TSA),
which stripped Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) access to raw
funds has also contributed. In the past, it was easy for
lawmakers to recoup their campaign funds less than one year after they
were sworn-in. But MDAs who were their cash cows can no longer fund
their excesses. During oversight functions in the past, lawmakers
were handsomely rewarded by MDAs and in turn, turned a blind eye to the
rot in the various establishments.
Lawmakers, unable to fund their
ostentatious lifestyles, have jettisoned their frequent visits to their
constituencies. Instead, they stay back in Abuja and send emissaries to
their constituents. While in their offices in Abuja, lawmakers
prevent their constituents from visiting them. With the help of security
cameras fixed in their offices, they can see from afar who is in the
waiting room. Whenever they do not want to see any constituent or
visitor, their secretaries feign excuses on their behalf and this has
become a reoccurring thing.
By Ehisuan Odia
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