FORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo has launched a blistering attack on Nigerian lawmakers, branding their constituency projects as “daylight unarmed robbery” and accusing them of institutionalising corruption at unprecedented levels.
Obasanjo made the remarks in his newly released book, “Nigeria Past and Future: Contemplations on Nigeria’s History and Vision for Tomorrow.” In Chapter Seven, titled “Lawmakers at Federal and State Levels,”, cited by News Point Nigeria the former president minced no words in accusing the National Assembly of distorting budgets, watering down critical anti-graft legislation, and enriching themselves in breach of the Constitution.
“Constituency projects by lawmakers at national or state levels are daylight unarmed robbery. All involved must be treated as criminals,” Obasanjo wrote.
Obasanjo, who ruled Nigeria first as a military leader and later as a democratically elected president, said his experience dealing with legislators revealed a consistent pattern of corruption and self-interest.
According to him, the lawmakers of the Fourth Republic are “much worse” than their predecessors in the First, Second, and Third Republics.
He recounted how the bill establishing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) took one and a half years to pass through the National Assembly because lawmakers feared the original provisions would land many of them in jail after their tenure.
“Some of them said that if they passed the bill as I had sent it to them, most of them would go to jail after their term as lawmakers,” he recalled.
He eventually signed a watered-down version, saying any attempt to veto it and resend the original bill would have killed the legislation entirely.
Obasanjo also cited the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Act as another example of legislative compromise, alleging that some oil-producing states bribed lawmakers to exclude them from making financial contributions to the Commission’s funding pool.
“The bill was designed for oil companies, the Federal Government and the affected states to contribute to regional development, but the states bribed lawmakers and were excised from contributing,” he alleged.
The former president accused the National Assembly of breaching the Constitution by fixing their own salaries and allowances, despite provisions that such decisions rest solely with the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).
He described Nigerian lawmakers as the “highest paid among developing countries, and even higher than some in the developed world.”
“When I was president, I refused to release funds budgeted that I found unacceptable. On occasions, I was threatened with impeachment, which did not move me,” Obasanjo said.
Obasanjo took particular aim at lawmakers’ use of constituency projects, accusing them of inserting such projects unilaterally into budgets without consultation with the executive.
He argued that the practice badly distorts the national budget, leads to chronic deficits, and turns the budget-making process into “a caricature.”
In his words: “In their hunger for illegitimate money, the lawmakers devised what they called constituency projects… invariably, once such misconduct and illegitimate action is allowed, the budget goes into deficit.”
The former president further accused lawmakers of abusing oversight powers, alleging that committees exist mainly to extort money from ministries, departments, agencies, and parastatals under the guise of monitoring projects.
“They visit the projects of these ministries and parastatals purely only to collect money from them. It is shockingly bad,” he wrote.