Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, has described the salary package of National Assembly members as humongous.
He declared that the outrageous take home pay of the legislators ‘ is humongous, unconstitutional and immoral.”
The former president spoke on Monday 10 July 2023 in Ado-Ekiti during a colloquium to mark Aare Afe Babalola’s 60th anniversary at the bar. He argued that nobody would appreciate democracy until it had impacted positively on the lives of the ordinary people.
Speaking at the occasion, Obasanjo described democracy as a journey and not a destination, explaining that democracy could only be strengthened if the players respected and implemented the constitution to the letter.
“Democracy doesn’t mean anything to any man who is hungry, whose life is in danger or whose property is being destroyed,” Obasanjo said.
Pointedly addressing the remuneration of National Assembly members, Obasanjo alleged that the legislators did not allow the institution constitutionally saddled with the responsibility to determine their pay, but decided to fix it themselves.
He stated, “By the Nigerian constitution, the revenue mobilisation and fiscal commission is supposed to fix the salaries and emoluments of members of the National Assembly. But they set the constitution aside and decided to fix their salaries. Even if it’s constitutional, it is not moral. But it is neither constitutional nor moral.”
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