Constituency Projects ‘Daylight Robbery’ – Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has launched fresh attacks on Nigerian lawmakers, describing them as “much worse” than all those who have gone to the First, Second and Third Republics.

He labelled constituency projects by legislators either at the national or state level as daylight “unarmed robbery” and one devised by lawmakers “in their hunger for illegitimate money.”

Obasanjo said this in one of his recently released books, „Nigeria Past and Future: Contemplations on Nigeria’s History and Vision For Tomorrow.”

In chapter seven of the book Lawmakers at Federal and State Levels,  Obasanjo recalls that twice, as a military leader and democratically elected president, he had to deal directly with Nigerian lawmakers at the national level—and he saw “no redeeming feature in them to build a Nigeria of our dream as projected in our constitution.”

Obasanjo said the bill that birthed the current leading anti-graft agency in the country, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), took a year and a half to pass through the National Assembly as it was “somewhat  watered down in the form that it was passed.”

According to him, some lawmakers said that if they passed the bill as originally sent to them, most would go to jail after their term as lawmakers.

Obasanjo said he had to assent to the bill as he had been warned that the legal framework would never have been created if he had attempted to return it to the parliament.

He said, “As a result of my uncompromising stand on the issue of corruption and because of the rigour of the first bill I sent to them, the EFCC bill, and possibly putting their threat into action, it took them a year and a half to pass the bill, and it was somewhat watered down in the form that it was passed.

“Some of them said that if they passed the bill as I had sent it to them, most would go to Jail after their term as lawmakers.  I had to assent to the bill as they passed it because it was hinted to me that some of them were expecting me to veto the bill as passed and send it back to them, and it would never have seen the light of day after.

“There were other bills they mangled up either to suit their interests or to satisfy those who paid them. A typical example was the Niger Delta Development Commission (NNDC) bill, which was designed for oil companies, the Federal Government, and the affected States to contribute. The total fund is to be used for the regional development of the Delta and oil-producing states, and in some way to mitigate some adverse effects of oil production in the area. The states, maybe not all of them, went to bribe the  national lawmakers, and they excised states from making contributions to the fund.”

Obasanjo said the current lawmakers‘ worst action “is their insatiable  appetite for corruption and breach of the Constitution.”

“In our  Constitution, no group can determine its salary and emoluments. For elected officers and officials, it is the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission RMAFC).

“The lawmakers set aside the provision of the Constitution and granted themselves obscene salaries and allowances that make them the highest paid among the developing countries and even higher than some developed countries.

“When I was president, I refused to release funds budgeted that I found unacceptable to release. On occasions, I was threatened with impeachment, which did not move me. If they had the power to abuse their authority and breach the law and the Constitution, I could hold the purse and reduce profligacy and the’ misconduct of lawmakers,‘ he said.

The former president said, “In their hunger for illegitimate money, the lawmakers devised constituency projects, which they unilaterally inserted into the budget without consultation or agreement with the executive, which badly distorted the national budget and made it unbalanced. Invariably, once such misconduct and illegitimate action are allowed, the budget would go into deficit. Then, the budget-making exercise becomes a joke or a caricature.

“Constituency projects by lawmakers at national or state levels are daylight unarmed robbery. All involved must be treated as criminals. In my time, it was not as brazen and audacious as it is now, particularly from Buhari‘s time. They used to go through the ministries and departments. Normally, they went into collusion with the ministries and any minister or head of parastatal caught by me would be in for a high jump. That was the case with a female Minister of Education of mine. But now,  there is no disguise or pretence; it is openly done with impunity, and the president calls nobody to order, and he thereby becomes an accomplice in the crime.”

He added, “The last point in this voracious attitude of the lawmakers to satisfy themselves at the expense of the nation and the common people is what they call oversight visits. They have a committee for each ministry or parastatal and commission. They visit the projects of these ministries and parastatals purely to collect money from them. It is shockingly bad!”