Politics
Perspective On NASS 2% Budget Spending
The theme of the symposium was “Saving A Nation From The Precipice: Between Re-Federation And Secessionalism”. The occasion was the 10th annual symposium of the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria, B-Zone. The event which took place last week held in the Ogun State Capital, Abeokuta.
Vice Chancellor of Ahman Pategi University, Patigi, Kwara State, Professor Mahfouz Adedimeji, was the guest lecturer. Top among the dignitaries that graced the talkshop was the Deputy Chairman of Nigeria’s National Assembly and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila by proxy.
Of course, the crux of the discussion was how best to pull back Nigeria that many believe is lingering precariously on the brink of national suicide. And this was where the second in command of the national legislature squared up with the erudite academic as the professor dared to point at the National Assembly as part of the areas that need adjustment in order to save the life of the nation.
In his presentation, Prof. Adedimeji chided the country for running the most expensive legislative arm in the world and expressed the view that a leaner and more concise National Assembly would reduce cost and conserve funds for other critical sectors of the economy that would be of more direct benefit to the generality of Nigerians.
He said, “With due respect to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nigeria spends the highest amount of money on legislators in the world and the National Assembly consumes more money than any other parliament in the world”.
According to the university don, it is superfluous to keep two legislative chambers, adding that it is as well bogus and extravagant to maintain the number of lawmakers when a single chamber and a much less number of persons could deliver the same service at a more tolerable cost.
“A unicameral legislature with two representatives from each state is sufficient. The National Assembly should have less than 100 members, including Abuja,” he emphasised.
This inclusion of the National Assembly among the areas to be pruned for better national productivity was what the Speaker of the House, who was also the chairman of the occasion, represented by Hon. Ibrahim Isiaka, House member representing Ifo/Ewekoro Federal Constituency, could not let slide without an effort to put the records straight.
The speaker accused Nigerians of being seemly obsessed with the neglible portion of the national revenue spent on the federal lawmakers while closing their eyes to how the greater part is dispensed.
Gbajabiamila said, while only two per cent of the national budget is spent on the National Assembly, 98 per cent goes to service the rest of the country and wondered why the searchlight is scarcely turned on the greater part instead of beaming its rays always on the infinitesimal fraction.
“The money being spent on the National Assembly is less than two percent of the total budget of this country but nobody has ever looked at what is happening to the remaining 98 per cent”, he said, explaining that, “when you say National Assembly, you are not talking about legislators, who are the lawmakers only. You are also talking about the National Assembly Commission; you are talking about everything, all encompassing”.
While noting that Nigerians appear to lack adequate appreciation of the volume and value of the work of the lawmakers, he called for a change of perception that suggests that the country maintains the most expensive lawmaking arm in the world.
“No one, till today, has actually sat down to go into research and define the meaning of legislators,” he said.
The issue of the cost of maintenance of Nigeria’s legislature is always a touchy one, especially for the lawmakers. The total take home per month for federal lawmakers in the country is still largely a subject of speculation.
Senators and members of the House of Representatives are believed to be carting home double digit millions of Naira as monthly pay packets. While the lawmakers are usually edgy and dodgy whenever any discussion gets close to their emoluments, they also usually shy away from full disclosure.
However, the former Senator representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District, Professor Mahfouz Adedimeji,troubled the waters when he revealed in 2018 that he and his colleagues received N13.5 million as “running cost” in addition to N700,000 consolidated salary and allowances on a monthly basis.
According to the outspoken former lawmaker, the average legislator in the upper chamber of the National Assembly pocketed N162 million yearly in allowances and N9 million in salaries.
Until 2015, statutory budget allocation to the National Assembly was N150 billion annually. The figure was adjusted to N125 billion subsequently, until 2021 when it was moved up to N134 billion.
Without a doubt, two per cent of N13.58 trillion is more than N200 billion. So, going by Gbajabiamila’s submission, money that is expected to go into the running of the National Assembly in 2021 is more than has been made public under the subhead in the appropriation document.
Instead of speaking in percentages, therefore, Nigerians would have loved the speaker to speak in terms of the quantum of money that is being spent on the maintenance of the 469 lawmakers and a service commission whose staff strength may not be more than a thousand persons.
This, actually, is the point of divergence between Prof. Adedimeji’s argument and the Honourable Speaker’s perspective. The import of the proof’s discourse is that the nation can do without spending this huge amount on an arm of government that does not generate money.
Indeed, not just a few Nigerians share the view that something needs to be done, and urgently too, to reduce the size of not only the legislative arm, but that of the executive as well. The belief is that such a measure will automatically cut the overall cost of governance and free up funds needed to finance the productive sector of the economy, provide jobs for the teeming unemployed able youths and douse the rising tension in the land.
The lawmakers should be worried that Nigerians think that the country is wasting money on them (legislators) and that the citizens are not getting value for money spent on their (legislators’) upkeep. They should be concerned that the people are getting more angry that while their (citizens’) lives and material circumstances have continued to depreciate, devalued and endangered by opportunistic social and economic devourers, the legislators live in obscene luxury at the expense of their (citizens’) welfare.
Nigerians would probably not bother much about how much of their collective resources go into servicing their representatives and leaders, if by the work they (representatives and leaders) do, their (citizens’) lives are made better, secure and are assured of a certain future.
However, as long as unemployment, poverty, insecurity, hunger and hopelessness continue to be the lot of the mass of the Nigerian people, they would never see any justification for any percentage of their resources being spent on their leaders. For now, the feeling is that the people are paying leaders who are overseeing their misery and underdevelopment instead of working for their (citizens’) socio-economic advancement.
The lawmakers and indeed the federal government should be deeply disturbed that for all their (government) efforts, the reality of the situation in the country is that more than one-third of the population is languishing in extreme poverty, children are out of school for no fault of theirs’ or their parents’, cost of food is rising above the reach of the common man, freedom to move around in search of livelihood is being curtailed, there is no guarantee for safety of lives and property, children can neither go nor safely sit in school to learn and everyone appears to be living on the edge.
Something needs to be done swiftly to change the growing perception that the federal government can no longer embark on any meaningful project, without borrowing money. Somebody needs to reassure Nigerians very quickly that the national assembly is actively engaged in some other beneficial assignments than merely approving loans whose impact they seem not to feel.
Inevitably, the controversy over federal lawmakers’ take home pay in particular, and what some have described as the unsustainable cost of governance in general in Nigeria, is not likely to abate until a corresponding significant improvement in the living condition of the people is achieved.
By: Opaka Dokubo
The Red Chamber passed the bill last Wednesday after more than two-thirds of senators voted in support.
In a statement issued yesterday by the Directorate of Media and Public Affairs, Office of the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele described the bill as “a child of necessity and not of political expediency as well as a product of national consensus and not of cynicism.”
The senate leader said the proposal to establish state police was a matter of urgent public importance that could not be delayed because of political interests, given the country’s security challenges.
He explained that the proposal did not originate recently but emerged from memoranda submitted to the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution.
According to him, the proposal underwent extensive consultations and rigorous scrutiny because of its sensitive nature.
Bamidele said the National Assembly consulted widely with the Executive, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, the Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria, the leadership of the Nigeria Police and other stakeholders before passing the bill.
He added that during the public hearings conducted across the six geopolitical zones in July 2025, participants overwhelmingly supported the creation of state police.
“At each level of our consultation, nearly all stakeholders embraced the State Police Bill in the light of stark realities we are facing today,” he said.
The Senate leader noted that recommendations from the Nigeria Police contributed to the bill, particularly on accountability and oversight mechanisms aimed at preventing abuse of state police by political actors.
According to him, the police’s support for the proposal underscores its national significance in tackling insecurity at the state and local levels.
Bamidele also said the bill received broad bipartisan backing in both chambers of the National Assembly.
“Even though the APC is the majority, there are members of opposition parties — PDP, ADC, NDC and Labour Party — that exercised their discretion in favour of the Bill, mainly in the national interest and not on parochial basis.
“In the Senate, for instance, 84 out of 109 members voted clause by clause in support of the Bill. This accounted for 77.06 per cent approval at the Senate alone,” he said.
He argued that national security should transcend political affiliations, saying political actors in other countries often set aside partisan interests to support initiatives that strengthen security.
Bamidele called on opposition parties to contribute constructive ideas that would promote peace and stability, adding that they have a responsibility to offer alternatives that would strengthen the country.
“Even when they disagree on some grounds, they are under obligations to provide credible and useful ideas that can make our nation better and greater. Unfortunately, they have not passed this critical test of opposition democracy,” he said.
The group also urged the National Assembly leadership to ensure that anyone found culpable is prosecuted where sufficient admissible evidence exists, while all diverted or unaccounted public funds are recovered and paid into the treasury.
In a letter dated June 27, 2026, and signed by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP said the allegations were contained in the Auditor-General of the Federation’s 2022 Annual Report, published on September 9, 2025.
The organisation disclosed this in a statement signed and released by Oluwadare, yesterday.
SERAP also asked Akpabio and Abbas to disclose the identities of contractors and companies, including their shareholders and beneficial owners, that allegedly received constituency project funds but failed to execute the projects.
It gave the National Assembly seven days to act on its recommendations, warning that it would institute legal proceedings should the legislature fail to respond.
“We would be grateful if the recommended measures are taken within seven days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions to compel you and the National Assembly to comply with our request in the public interest,” the letter stated.
It said, “The allegations involve several federal ministries, departments and agencies, including the Environmental Health Registration Council of Nigeria (EHORECON); the Federal College of Animal Health and Production Technology, Volm; the Federal Polytechnic, Udana; the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP); and the National Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS).
“The Auditor-General identified numerous cases of payments into private bank accounts, contracts awarded without due process, payments for contracts not executed or services not rendered, undocumented expenditures, inflated contracts, procurement irregularities and failures to account for public funds, recommending in each case that the funds be recovered and remitted to the treasury.
“According to the 2022 audited report, contained in pages 367 to 396, the Environmental Health Registration Council of Nigeria (EHORECON or Council) Abuja paid over ‘N22 million [N22,944,565.16] into the private account of some members of staff of the Council from the Constituency Projects Fund Account.
“There ‘was no evidence of the utilization of the funds and no explanations on the purpose for the payment of such amount into the individual accounts.”
SERAP added, “The Council (EHORECON) also in 2021 ‘awarded suspicious consultancy contracts of over N12 million [N12,030,818.29] for the development of Modern Abattoirs in Kebbi State and the supervision of 7 projects in Kebbi, Jigawa, and Headquarters Abuja.
“The money was to ‘produce bills of quantity, architectural design, structural design, mechanical design, and electrical designs for the contracts and supervision.’ But ‘the ‘items could not be found.’”
Altogether, SERAP said the Auditor-General’s 2022 report alleged EHORECON paid more than ?1.8 billion in constituency project funds through questionable transactions.
For the Federal College of Animal Health and Production Technology, Vom, SERAP said the institution “in 2022 reportedly ‘paid over N279 million [N279,700,500.00] to 3 contractors to empower and train youths in selected vocational areas in Borgu and Kontagora, Niger State, train women and youths in entrepreneurship in Niger East Senatorial District and to train youths and women in agro production and self-reliance in Barki Ladi/Riyom Federal Constituency, Plateau State.
“But the money was paid to the contractors without any document.’”
Other irregularities involving the college include another ?279.7 million in mobilisation fees allegedly paid without documentation, and more than ?629.4 million paid to unqualified contractors for various constituency projects without evidence of due process, contract advertisements or details of the contractors.
SERAP further alleged that the Auditor-General’s report identified multiple financial irregularities involving the Federal Polytechnic, Ukana, Akwa Ibom State, including over ?407 million allegedly paid as mobilisation fees without supporting documents, more than ?399 million paid to unqualified contractors, contracts allegedly inflated by over ?192 million, over ?279 million paid for projects not fully executed, ?50 million allegedly paid for an unexecuted borehole project, and more than ?83 million disbursed without the required documentation or approvals.
It also alleged that NAPTIP reportedly irregularly awarded contracts worth over ?21.8 million, paid more than ?176.8 million for logistics and consultancy services without supporting documents, and disbursed over ?89.6 million and ?4.4 million for projects that were allegedly not executed.
The report also alleged that NILDS failed to submit audited financial statements for 2012 to 2022, did not remit over ?15 million in stamp duties, and spent ?1.6 million without authorisation from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.
SERAP said the report recommended the recovery of the affected funds and their remittance to the treasury.
It argued that corruption in constituency projects disproportionately affects poor and vulnerable Nigerians by diverting resources meant for public services and development.
It added that the National Assembly, in exercising its oversight responsibilities, should demonstrate leadership by ensuring accountability in the management of constituency project funds.
The organisation further argued that the allegations, if established, would amount to breaches of the Constitution, the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 and the Public Procurement Act 2007, which require transparency, accountability and due process in the management of public resources.
The Court of Appeal in a unanimous decision of a panel of three Justices had on May 22, 2026 directed the Federal High Court Judge not to proceed with the suit until an appeal pending before them and filed by Accord Party is resolved.
In a Certified True Copy Enrol Order of the Superior Court, Justices Mohammed Danjuma, Adebukola Banjoko and Oyejoju Oyewumi asked the lower Court Judge to stay proceedings until all issues on the appeal filed by the Accord Party were resolved
Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State had, through the Accord Party, applied to justice Lifu to join him as a defendant in the deregistration legal battle instituted by a group of former legislators.
The contention of the Osun State governor was that he had a stake in the Accord Party, being the platform he was seeking re-election in the August 15 gubernatorial poll in the state.
In his ruling, Justice Lifu on April 27 ruled against the Osun State governor, rejecting his request to be joined in the suit to defend his own position and interest.
Not satisfied with the Federal High Court decision, the Osun State governor, through his lawyer, Musibau Adetunbi (SAN), moved to the Court of Appeal in Abuja where he challenged the Justice Lifu decision to refuse to allow him join the suit.
After listening to the argument canvassed, especially that he has interest to protect as Accord Party gubernatorial candidate for Osun State governorship election, the three Justices of the Court of Appeal, unanimously directed Justice Lifu to allow them look into the grievances of the governor.
In specific terms, the Court of Appeal Justices directed Justice Lifu not to proceed further with the matter and fixed October 27 to determine the interlocutory appeal of the appellant.
However, when the certified enroll order and notice of appeal were served on Justice Peter Lifu by Mr Adetunbi (SAN), the judge rejected it on the ground that it was a ploy to arrest his judgment in the matter.
Although the judge had adjourned his judgment delivery in the matter indefinitely, he finally made a dramatic turn around on Monday and proceeded to deliver the judgment that has now proscribed the five political parties.
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