Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has strongly criticized members of the National Assembly for determining their salaries and allowances, labeling the practice as immoral.
Obasanjo made these remarks on Friday while hosting a delegation from the House of Representatives at his residence in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
During the meeting, the former president emphasized that it is the responsibility of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMFAC) to set the earnings of public officeholders.
He expressed concern that lawmakers were overstepping their bounds by deciding their own pay packages.
“Look at your case, with all due respect,” Obasanjo stated. “You are not supposed to fix your salaries or your allowances; it is supposed to be done by the RMFAC, but you decide what you pay yourselves, the allowances that you give yourselves – newspaper allowances, pant allowances – you give yourself all sorts of things. With due respect, you know it is not right.”
Obasanjo continued by highlighting the moral implications of the practice, stating, “It is not right for me to be the one to declare and determine what I pay myself. It is immoral, and then you are doing it. The Senate is doing it, and in some cases, the executive gives you what you are not entitled to. You all got N200 million.”
The federal legislative arm of government has often been criticized for the substantial remuneration allocated to its members.
The total monthly compensation received by federal lawmakers remains largely undisclosed to the public, fueling concerns about transparency and fairness.
In a related incident in 2018, former Senator Shehu Sani, who represented Kaduna Central, revealed that senators received N13.5 million monthly as running costs, in addition to their salaries..