NASS AND NIGERIA’S KILLING FIELDS

David Pilling’s piece titled, “What Is Nigeria’s Government for?” will rub on the consciences of well-meaning Nigerians for a long time to come, that “long time” being the end of this Muhammadu Buhari administration in the short term. Mr. Pilling pointed out a truth that we all chose to willfully ignore, namely, the cost of governance eats up a great chunk of Nigeria’s miserly annual budget. Thus, to function, the government is essentially a bureaucracy of patronage. With this sort of patronage, the legislature is “caged” for INEC “watchet over anyone who criticises the federal government.” Now, members of Nigeria’s National Assembly (NASS) cannot take a motion to chide the president on surreptitious actions in the country’s killing fields of the Christian North because every single member of NASS hopes to return to the so-called “Green Chamber” or “Red Chamber” in 2023. Really, according to Mr. Pilling, there is good money to be made in Nigeria’s corridors of government.

Sunday Adole Jonah,

Department of Physics, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State