Misplaced Priority: Nigerian senators to use tax payers’ money on facebook training.

By Debo Popoola
When priority is not set right, the most important is left for the least important, such is the case of the Nigerian senators who think the next thing for them to do is to spend tax payers money on training on how to use such trivial things as facebook to the extent of them inviting their trainers from outside the country.
The eighth senate has never ceased to throw us with different head-cracking surprises since its inception, ranging from leadership tussles to cry for allowances. The  latest is the most embarrassing and annoying of all surprises thrown thus far.
Going by a statement by the chief of staff to the senate president Bukola Saraki, all 109 senators and their aides will undergo a training session on how to use facebook. Yes, you heard that right, facebook. He said the training is in line with Saraki’s promise to bring about a more representative legislature through the use of technology and tools for an electronic parliament. The training comes up next week and it will be conducted by Facebook Africa’s head of policy.
If by now these senators do not know how to use facebook that is regarded as the simplest social media tool, then they should all be ashamed of themselves, that in this twenty-first century, we can still
find law-makers who cannot use such simple social media tool like facebook.
Even if it is possible that some of them may not be able to use facebook, what about their aides and personal assistants who are assumed to be younger and social media sassy? Is this not another
means by the senate to embezzle our money in the name of facebook training? Definitely this training will be accompanied with monetary benefits and remunerations.
This intended action by the senate is highly suspicious and it begs for serious scrutiny by the public. Facebook training is what an individual can decide to do on his or her own, making It a legislative
activity is highly ridiculous and shameful. It is even more saddening that the trainers are not within Nigeria as they have been invited from facebook headquarter in California and they will arrive on
Sunday, according to the released statement. This means our senators cannot find a good facebook trainer amongst over 170 million Nigerians whose money is going to be spent on the training. It is a big bang
slap on our faces. With this, the senate has clearly shown to us that they care less about
us who they claim to be representing.