Oby Ezekwesili Vs National Assembly : 5 Reasons Why We Should Make This Debate Happen–By Jude Egbas Here’s one trivia about me my Mama hasn’t told anyone yet–I am a fan of debates, appalling as my public speaking skills are. Back in the days when boys were boys and girls were won by those who deserved them, we would memorize all our debate points, stand before an appreciative audience and pour them all out exactly the same way our teacher had drilled them into us. Once, with torn school knickers and a worn out shirt, I was on the way to concluding my debate points with “I hope with these few points of mine I have been able to convince you and not confuse you that co-education schools are better”, when my eyes caught my crush. She winked at me in that way only she could at the time. I lost my composure, mangled my lines and cried on the podium. The debate club teacher pulled me by the ear and gave me six lashes of the whip thereafter. That incident would have an effect on my appetite for a good debate for some time until last week, that is. You could imagine my joy when the National Assembly agreed to a public hearing with Madam Oby Ezekwesili over the vexatious issue of jumbo pay for members of the legislative arm of government. The former World Bank Vice President for Africa had said the National Assembly had gulped N1tr within an 8 year span, at a public function. Not ones to suffer fools gladly, the lawmakers had hit back, questioning her knowledge of basic arithmetic and referring to her comments as a blackmail of some sort. Madam Oby has a tougher skin than most folks are ready to give her credit for. She immediately challenged the Legislature to a public hearing on the matter and the House of Reps took the bait. While a date is yet to be fixed, forgive me if I am still rubbing my palms with glee at the prospect of this debate of our lives. Here are 5 reasons why we should all make sure this debate happens in our life times…… 1. IT WILL IMPROVE THE SPEAKING SKILLS OF OUR LEGISLATORS : I don’t know about you, but whenever I feel like a good nap at lunch time, I flip the Television channels to NTA. Here is one Station where you are sure to catch live plenary sessions of our law making organs in all their stuttering glory. They bore, they mumble, they depress and they end up saying nothing. So, you just sleep off. Public speaking is not a requisite skill in third world Nigeria where access to State coffers is a rule of thumb for public officers, so this debate may just help….a bit. Imagine Oby Ezekwesili on one hand and about 10 lawmakers on the other with cameras flicking and rolling, CNN beaming it live and Channels TV making sure Nigerians do not miss a moment…..just close your eyes and imagine this scenario for a moment. It will enable our lawmakers to hone their public speaking skills. It will be a teachable moment and we should not let this opportunity slip through our fingers. 2. IT WILL BE GOOD FOR THE GOVERNMENT TELEVISION NETWORKS : Now don’t get me wrong. AIT and NTA aren’t dead yet. They are lying in state and waiting for the undertakers. AIT isn’t a Government run Television Station, but you could be forgiven if you mistook it for a mouthpiece of the ruling party. We need to get these Television Stations and all other government run radio stations and Newspaper houses back in business. This is important because they are employers of Labour and if we must do something about our unemployment figures, here is a darn good place to start. A public debate between Madam Oby and an entire National Assembly is quite capable of putting our near moribund government run media houses back in business. It may not be the silver bullet required to improve their ratings, but it is a bullet nonetheless. 3. IT WILL MAKE THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY LOOK RESPONSIBLE AGAIN: Which is not to say that the National Assembly is mostly made up of irresponsible people, but they badly need a face saving measure and Madam Oby’s challenge is a life-line of some sorts for a body that hasn’t really endeared itself to Nigerians. You could count on one hand the number of meaningful and people centred legislation they have managed to come up with since 1999. It is not an indictment, it is a latent spirit in the National Assembly that needs to be exorcised. I don’t do ghosts that much, but watching our Lawmakers marshal their points expertly on National and World Television would do their public perception no harm. It’s a recommended quick fix for a body Nigerians have loved to hate. 4. IT WILL SHUT ALL OF US UP FOR GOOD : Look, we criticise a lot in this country. I should know because I am a lazy ass critic. Just go through the first 3 points in this write up and you will see that all I have done is throw missiles left, right and center. I need to be put out of job. I need to be shut up and to be sent to the vacation spot that is Ibiza in Spain where all I would do is put my legs up and occasionally ask my baby to “come sit on my laps”. That’s all! A public hearing or a debate between a ‘critic’ and a Government organ is all the National Assembly needs to get folks like us off their backs for good. They say she is an attention seeker and all. Bleh….There is only one way to deal with attention seekers: Take the attention off them and put it on you for once. The National Assembly needs this debate more than Ngozi Okonjo Iweala needs her next ‘gele’. 5. IT WILL MAKE MY WARD COUNCILLOR GET A LIFE : My municipal councillor has only one ambition in life–he wants to become a Senator. He reads of how much Senators take home and does nothing to better the lives of the village folks around him. He loves their looks as they pull their ‘agbada’ this way and that on National TV. He thinks they roll in money and belch cash and more cash. My ward councillor doesn’t even think he should improve the level of his education. He wakes, sleeps and dreams ‘Senator of the Federal Republic’. He idolizes them. I once caught him mimicking the gait of a Senator and then he goes: “Oga Jude when that time reach I go chop my turn….I go make you my PA..” A debate that makes a lie of the fat salaries and allowances of Federal and State legislators would make my Local Government Councillor to focus on having a good hair cut again and not save money earmarked for the provision of potable water for my village folks on his future senatorial campaign war chest. It will make him realise that those dudes in Abuja don’t earn that much and teach him that he can make a difference even at ward level. I hope with these few points of mine, I have been able to convince you and not confuse you that Oby Ezekwesili and the National Assembly should be encouraged to let this debate go on. We shouldn’t allow either party chicken out. Not on our lives! The writer is on Twitter as @egbas
Posted on: Mon, 26 Aug 2013 17:55:55 +0000
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