“Lawmakers Abuse Nigerian Constitution by Fixing Their Salaries”, - Obasanjo

Former Nigeria President Olusegun Obasanjo described the self-determination of lawmakers to decide their pay as immoral and unconstitutional.

Obasanjo said this on Monday while delivering a speech at the 60th-anniversary celebration of legal icon Aare Afe Babalola.

He stated that those who should uphold the Constitution are “the ones who undermine it”.

According to Obasanjo, salary allocation for elected officials is the responsibility of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), which he said the lawmakers had jettisoned to fix salaries for themselves.

Under Paragraph 32(a-e) of Part I to the Third Schedule of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the commission is saddled with determining the remuneration appropriate for political officeholders, including legislators, among other functions.

He explained that the point in Nigeria, which he has seen and can attest to, is most of the people who are supposed to be operationalizing or managing and seeing the Constitution and democracy move forward are the ones who undermine it.