‘Lawmakers insensitive to sports’

Rev. Iloh

The controversy surrounding the salaries of members of the National Assembly has refused to die down as stakeholders in sports have joined in the call for a review of the federal lawmakers‘ remuneration.


In the salary scale effective in the federal legislature, a senator‘s monthly salary is N15.18m while that of a member of the House of Representatives is N10.59m. This amounts to a staggering figure of N182m per annum for a senator and N127m per annum for a member of the lower House. With a total of 109 Senators and 360 Representatives, the annual salaries of the legislators stand at N67.32bn.

The furore over the legislators‘ salaries began in November when the Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido, posited that 25 per cent of the overhead cost of the federation was spent on the legislators.

In the 2010 Appropriation Bill, the National Sports Commission was allocated N5.48b (recurrent) and N4.9bn (capital), a far cry from the N25bn proposed for the sector. The proposed amount would have taken care of, among other things, two advance life support vehicles and sport medicine equipment of international standard, construction of mini sports centres in 24 states and the purchase of sports equipment for 37 mini sports centres. In the same Bill, the NASS was allocated N118.9bn (recurrent) and N9bn (capital).

In spite of the huge slash in the proposal, the NSC was able to complete and equip 18 of the mini sports centres. But stakeholders in the sector believe the NSC could have achieved more if the budget had been increased.

Nigeria had missed out in featuring at international competitions because the athletes could not participate in elimination events. Many times, the lack of funds is the only reason the country‘s flag is not hoisted at major competitions.

At the last Commonwealth Games in India, Nigeria could not present athletes in some sports because the NSC did not have enough funds for the athletes.

The poor funding in the sector has also led athletes to defect because, to them, the country has not made sports worthwhile.

It cost the Federal Government N42bn to construct the National Stadium in Abuja. Half of that amount could be used to maintain the existing sports facilities across the country. This is a minute figure compared to the legislators‘ pay.

Some Nigerians got SMS and emails shortly after Sanusi revealed his discovery on the lawmakers‘ salaries. The message reads, ”Do you know that it costs tax payers N290m yearly to maintain each member of our National Assembly in a country where nothing works and 80 per cent of the population earn below N300 a day? A working day earning of a senator is more than a yearly income of a doctor; it‘s more than the salary of 42 Army generals or 48 Professors or 70 Commissioners of Police or more than twice the pay of the US President or nine times the salary of US Congressmen.”

The message further requests the recipient to forward to their neighbours.

While the message is informing (US President earns $400,000 per annum and the VP earns $221,200 a year), it is interesting to note that the 20 clubs in the Nigeria Premier League have not paid their players their outstanding salaries and bonuses for the past year due to the lack of sponsorship.

Whereas a Senator goes home with over N182m in a year, the total sponsorship package for the NPL in four years is N2.65bn.

A wrestling coach once said Nigeria would need to invest N1m on a wrestler in two years to be sure of winning gold at the 2012 Olympics. Invariably, N20m would be enough to prepare a complete wrestling team ahead of the Olympics.

A former President of the Cycling Federation of Nigeria, Rev. Moses Iloh, could not understand the rationale behind the allocation of the huge amount to the legislators, describing it as unfair and insensitive to the plight of many Nigerians who still struggle to live above poverty line.

He said, ”I find it hard to believe that the people who are entrusted with power have actually turned on the people to milk them dry. Nigerians are angry with the lawmakers and this issue must be addressed urgently before it degenerates into something else.

”The money could have been channelled to youth development through sports.

“The Federal Government is obliged to spend for sports because over 60 per cent of the population are youths and if we must have hope of a brighter future we have to develop the youths today. These youths have taken to sports and it will only be sensible for any government to invest more in sports.

”My fear is that the NSC cannot be trusted with money. If such an amount is given to it, it should be monitored closely and accountability must be their watchword.

”Many of the sports associations have not been organising competitions due to lack of funds. How can our athletes excel at international competitions if we cannot have domestic competitions for them?

”Corruption has been institutionalised in our government because Nigerians behave as if they are mesmerised when they see their leaders mismanage public funds. The legislators‘ salaries must be reviewed and they should be paid according to their attendance. They must also be made to return the excesses they had collected in the past three years.”

A former Chairman of the Nigeria Football Association Group Capt. John Obakpolor told our correspondent on the telephone that domestic football could have developed if it had funds for players‘ welfare.

”I would not have commented on the outrageous legislators‘ pay because it‘s really annoying and embarrassing,” Obakpolor said. ”But we must look at what we can use the money for if the lawmakers are not getting as much as that.

”The painful part of our football is that we have nothing to be proud of in domestic football. The stadium facilities are substandard and the players, who are the major actors, are living in penury.

”Why would Nigerians prefer foreign football to the domestic games? If there was proper funding, the players would get their salaries regularly and they would play quality games. Which player will want to play his heart out when he knows he will get nothing in return?

”There is the need to pay coaches and referees regularly and very well to improve the quality of our football. If this is missing, there is little to look forward to in our football.

”If there was adequate funding for our football, we would not need to wait for other countries to invite us for international friendly games before the national teams would get to play.”
Source;http://www.punchng.com