A
foremost Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, has called on theSpeaker of
the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and Kaduna State governor, Nasir
El-Rufai to stop playing games with Nigerians.
Recall that the two All Progressives Congress leaders have in recent days been
publishing what comes into their accounts as monthly salaries.
Afenifere
dismissed Dogara’s release of his salary slip as grandstanding in the face of
public demand for transparency in the budget of the National Assembly and
prudence by the legislature in the utilisation of public funds.
Speaking
through its National Publicity Secretary, Yinka Odumakin, the group said the
unprecedented effort in releasing his salary slip in the face of El-Rufai’s
demand was a drop in the ocean of demands for more accountability from the
legislature by Nigerians.
Odumakin
said, “As far as we are concerned, it is a waste of time.
“Both
el-Rufai and Dogara are playing games with us. What el-Rufai did was just to
publish his security budget and not security votes.
“It also
goes to show that we are not fighting corruption.
What the
President should do is to direct the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal
Commission, RMAFC, to reduce salaries of public servants. Until we embark on
institutional reforms, we will not get anywhere in the fight against
corruption.”
By John Owen Nwachukwu
