SENATOR Smart Adeyemi has decried what he described as the high cost of running government and the attendant huge wage bill accruing to political office holders. This is more so when it is at the expense of the Nigerian people and meaningful development, which are the real targets of the process of governance.
Worried that “the cost of running government is too expensive”, Adeyemi who represents Kogi West Senatorial District State, also advocated for a change from the bicameral legislative system currently in practice at the centre, to a unicameral system, as part of the ongoing review of the 1999 Constitution.
Noting that federalism cannot be copied hundred per cent as what is obtainable in the United States because of differences in norms and values, he said, “for instance, I do not believe we should run a bicameral (legislative) system in Nigeria. I believe one chamber is enough. If we are going to have the Senate, let’s have the Senate, if we are going to have the House of Representatives, let’s have it alone. I am in the system and I know that the cost of running government is too expensive; it is against the interest of the people. That is why everybody wants to be a politician, people now take politics for a profession and that is why there is corruption in the system”.
Adeyemi who is a member of the Joint Committee on the Review of the Constitution, disclosed that one of the things paramount in his mind is the issue of a unicameral federal legislature.

Said he: “We should run a unicameral system and one chamber, so that we can provide water, good roads, electricity and life for people rather than catering for a large number of people who are honourable members or distinguished senators. That is one of the things I want to champion as a member of the review committee.
“The process of running government should not be more costly than what the system will give to the people. Is it not madness for a governor to appoint 70 special assistants? It is fraud! When you want to assess the performance of a government it is not by paying salaries. What makes a leader is your ability to manage the resources that are available. When a governor tars roads, it is not an achievement because the money is there but when the internally generated revenue before stood at N10Million but today it is N30Million, then you can talk of achievement”.