Lawmakers Spent N1 Trillion in Eight Years – Oby Ezekwesili

Since 2005, National Assembly members alone have been allocated N1trillion,” Ezekwesili said.

Besides, she stressed, a research conducted in Britain identified Nigerian legislators as being the highest paid in the world.

“N699b went to banks as interest on borrowed loans in 2012 alone; also, 82 per cent of Nigeria’s budgetary cost goes for recurrent expenditure,” she said.

Mrs Ezekwesili spoke in Abuja while delivering a keynote address at a one-day dialogue session on the cost of governance in Nigeria jointly organised by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and the Federal Public Administration Reform Programme, United Kingdom (UK). The former Minister said the long military rule might have had a negative impact on governance in the country. She said one of the greatest mistakes of the Olusegun Obasanjo administration in which she served, was that Nigeria delved into democracy without necessarily doing away with the military mentality.

“There is a drawback to the military; one major mistake of the government under which I served was that we simply got into democracy and did not spend reasonable time of removing the militaristic ethos and principles from the minds of every citizen, every leader and every institution,” she said.

Ezekwesili demanded proactive engagement of the government by Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and others and canvassed part-time legislation as a means of lowering the cost of governance.

She said part-time legislature would ensure that the right people got into governance, adding: “Things will improve through part-time legislations. It will also filter the number of people who will go into the National Assembly.

“You must have means of livelihood and you don’t need to depend on public funds. We need to learn more on the good and bad side of it. But we can’t rule out the possibility.

“There should be effective demand by civil societies for the Steve Oronsaye report. You should demand for a mini national transparent dialogue because it touches on the heart of good governance”, she said.

Mrs Ezekwesili, also advised the diversification of the economy, noting that over-dependence on oil is bound to drag the nation down in view of the alarming poverty level in the country despite its numerous natural and human resources.