Musings With Olulana: A Functional NASS Is Missing In Action! Did Donald Really Say That?

By
Femi Adeoya
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Very often, news we hear or read about concerning actions of the Legislative arm of Government in many countries are of the sensational type with a negative tint such as fighting amongst their members, the passage of an amendment which takes away civil liberties. It could be amendments to the constitution which favors Senators, 
 
Representatives or the President of the country and sometimes the tidings we get is nothing more than inter Party squabbling leading to a breakdown in a bipartisan effort.
 
Once in a while though, we do get information about the passage of bills which work for the good of the Common man even if deliberation over it was surrounded by much rancor. For example, "Obama Care" in the USA which is officially known as the Affordable Care Act was signed into law in 2010 as the opposition Republican Party fought its passage and is still trying to get it removed. This Act has given millions of Americans access to health care hitherto denied them due to cost.
 
 
Today, there are many Bills in the US Senate and others such as the "Older Americans Act Reauthorization Act of 2015" already passed by the  Senate, which is now in the the House of Representatives pending passage into law. Tracking Bills in the American legislature easily shows it is a functional body, hard at work for the American people it serves.
 
In March 2015, the Nigerian Senate passed the National Biosafety Agency Bill which regulates the handling of biotechnology and spells out penalties for violations, ostensibly allowing Nigeria to join the league of nations making use of biotechnology. President Jonathan signed it into law the next month. Nass might look like a highly functional arm of government with that example and others but on closer inspection, an ugly truth is revealed!
 
It is highly instructive to know that in the four years of its existence, the 7th Senate passed 77 bills before the amazing passage of 46 Bills it jointly passed within 10 minutes in June 2015 just before it expired! That is how the total number of Bills passed got to 123. Do we see the "trick with mirrors" employed here? How serious can such a group of Senators be really, since we know many of them remain in the 8th Senate today? So far it has been business as usual with them and along with many Nigerians, I have been wondering about news coming out from NASS ever since. What have our Senators and Representatives been up to really?
 
To me, it appears all the news about NASS I get to read is sensational news of this sort; Senate President Saraki's trial or lack of one, an ill conceived proposal to police social media derisively nicknamed "The Anti-Social Media Bill," their want and not a need for new luxurious vehicles excused as a means to curb corruption and the case of the 2016 Budget in limbo among others. I have not forgotten the extremely entertaining show put up by our esteemed Senators during the confirmation of Buhari's Ministers.
 
Here is a subject they can tackle. In Nigeria,there is the need to look into a process of changing the culture where degrees are used as a means of judging how a person will perform a specific task and get remuneration for instead of using acquired ability as the yardstick – what can you actually do rather than what does your certificate say you should be able to do? There is a place for college graduates who study theoretical subjects and definitely there is a niche for a skilled workforce comprising of people who have relevant technical abilities who should not be placed beneath graduates with a very different skill set.
 
Ex Senator Akinyelure tried to sponsor a bill during the 7th Senate to address this disparity in renumeration and recognition between HND and B.Sc graduates which is a long standing cause of concern and actually affects the economy adversely as many square pegs – University graduates are in round holes supposed to be occupied by graduates with technical know-how such as HND graduates. That Bill got nowhere fast!
 
An excellent article on this can be found at http://pearl.com.ng/2015/10/senator-akinyelure-why-senate-should-consider-bill-to-place-hnd-at-par-with-b-sc
 
It will be nice to hear about a bill such as this one which affects positively the lives of ordinary Nigerians being deliberated over by NASS. Is it possible though that we are simply not fed news about "good work" being done by these men and women we have employed to take care of our dear nation's business? I for one think not. What we see, hear and read about is exactly what we are getting and that is just not good enough. The Nigerian voter has to understand this very well and use that  knowledge to their advantage. Vote in a functional NASS that will not be Away Without Leave – AWOL, becoming missing in action thereby.
 
Donald Trump Said What?
 
Many are sharing on social media, unverified news about Donald Trump threatening that if he becomes President – a very scary prospect for the USA and the world at large, he will somehow ask Nigerians living in America, making a honest living – "taking jobs Americans ought to have" according to the rhetoric be is expounding on to leave. All of them, wherever they may be domiciled within the USA!
 
This is exemplified in the lone African he allegedly met on the campaign trail in Alaska – a Nigerian. One wonders how many "American jobs" this Nigerian took away from natural born Alaskans? If he actually said this, it only shows him pandering to his political base which is made up of a special breed of Americans I will define later.
 
A few weeks ago, it was another unverified report of him stating that Africa needs to be colonized once more that went viral. There is no proof at this moment he ever made that particular statement either though he has made many similar ones about Mexicans and Hispanics in general. All the links used to support these "news reports" are obscure websites that cannot be verified. Just like many which are used by Nigerians themselves to disseminate manufactured information, rumors or outright lies about the government.
 
There even exists a YouTube video reporting the plan for a Nigerian exodus from America by Trump but the voice is not his. Instead, a low voiced woman is telling us what Trump is supposed to have said in Alaska! Let us read between the lines here please.
 
A brief search will reveal many obtuse statements by 'the Donald' which were actually spoken by him and are on record in mainstream media sources. Nigerians should not allow themselves to be whipped into a frenzy by those who are trying to take advantage of Mr 'silver spoon fed' Donald Trump's bombastic pronouncements with these carefully crafted reports aimed at a target audience in Africa with the hope it will cause Black voters in America, out of a feeling of ki nship, vote in droves against the Republican Party frontrunner, if he eventually gets nominated – perish the thought!
 
In Nigeria, we would say he uses gutter language and has no filter. We also term his penchant to say the first thing which comes into his head, 'mouth diarrhea'. No surprise then that he is being quoted as the source of the most ridiculous commentary about people from Africa these days. However, what should really make Nigerians upset and take an introspective look is this July, 2015  report from one of America's major news sources – Huffington Post.
 
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/7859322
 
It has this article which I have provide the link to that has equated what Donald Trump is doing in the American political scene to a huge scam which the author – James Altucher calls the "Nigerian 419 Scam."
 
Read it to see the reference made about Nigeria and Nigerians, linking Donald Trump's poor excuse of a political campaign, even if popular among deeply misguided, myopic and Obama wearied Americans – that is the definition of his political base I alluded to earlier, to financial fraud schemes perpetrated by people from all over the world. See if this is not more damaging than stories of what the Donald will do to Africans, especially Nigerians if elected President of the USA.