We are having a discussion today in my office and someone proof with a fact hat our National Assembly is the most expensive legislative arm of government in the world and the most corrupt. and he was able to proof it with point, that our legislature took money in the name of constituency allowance.

I think we need to cry out and something must be done ASAP.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2010/aug/05/national-08-05-2010-003.htm



Former President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday accused the National Assembly of being a burden to the nation’s lean purse.
According to him, the amount being spent in maintaining the federal lawmakers is draining the nation’s resources and should be checked immediately.
Indeed, the former president said it was difficult to understand how much precisely a senator takes home yearly in the name of constituency projects. He warned that something must be done about this if the fledging democracy is to be sustained.

The chairman of Board of Trustees of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) spoke during a one-day retreat organised for the Niger State senior civil servants by the state government.
At the retreat themed: Strategising to Re-invigorate Niger State for the Achievement of Vision 3:2020, Chief Obasanjo noted that Nigeria could not afford to have a National Assembly that is corrupt and consuming a disproportional part of the nation’s resources.

“We should look closely at the legislature so that they can be more open and transparent in the way they do their work. Nobody knows in detail how much it costs us to maintain a senator. I believe it is more than N250 million. Compare what it cost in 1999 and 2000, it cost about $1.7 million compared to a quarter of a million in America, They came up and say something is constituency project, what is this constituency project? They insert it in the budget, they would find the contractor and the contractor would work for them, that is constituency project? They then accuse some people of corruption, who is not corrupt?

“Now let us talk truly and seriously to ourselves; we can’t continue to have a National Assembly that is consuming a disproportional part of our resources and then expect that we would be able to make progress. They pass budget that can’t be implemented, because it has to be beefed up to satisfy their whims and caprices. Even what the ministries did not ask for they put it,” Obasanjo said.

Fielding questions from the participants who included the state executive council members, state assembly members and other top government officials on the difference between military and democratic governance, Obasanjo pointed out that democracy as practised in Nigeria was costly and cumbersome. He said for Nigeria to progress, leaders must discharge their duties with every sense of responsibility without tribal or religious sentiments.

The State governor, Muazu Babagida Aliyu, in his own comment commended the former president for his style of leadership during his eight years rule, saying he did his best to deliver the dividend of democracy and treated every Nigerian based on merit.