By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo says it is immoral and unconstitutional for elected legislators to determine their own salaries and emoluments, wondering why those who should uphold the constitution are “the ones who undermine it”.
The former Nigerian leader said salary allocation for elected officials is the responsibility of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), accusing the lawmakers of taking over the role of the body by fixing salaries for themselves.
Obasanjo while delivering a speech at the 60th anniversary celebration of renowned legal practitioner and educationist, Aare Afe Babalola’s call to Nigerian Bar held in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital said lawmakers are acting in contravention of the law.
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.
“The point in Nigeria which I have seen and which I can attest to is most of the people who are supposed to be operationalising or managing and seeing the constitution and democracy move forward, they are actually the ones who undermine the constitution,” Obasanjo said.
“All elected people, by our constitution, their emolument is supposed to be fixed by the revenue mobilisation commission, but our lawmakers set that aside and they make laws and put any emolument for themselves.
“Even if that is constitutional, it is not moral and, of course, it is neither constitutional nor moral.”
Obasanjo who governed Nigeria first as a military head of state and later a democratically elected President from 1999-2007 expressed concern that so many other aspects of the Nigerian Constitution such as the Federal Character were “absolutely ignored”, saying that the Federal Character Commission barely carried out its function.
The former President said that when the constitution is “continually breached like that”, the country’s democracy becomes one where anything goes.
The former Nigerian leaders commended Aare Babalola, the proprietor of Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti for his contributions to the development of the country, saying that he had made things he met in life better than he met them.
