The high cost of law making in Nigeria

The primary aim of law is to underline the principle of equality of men. This noble principle is the foundation of justice and fair play. Without justice and fair play, society will be threatened by the problems of insecurity, crime, chaos, and underdevelopment. Owing to this valid fact, most democratic societies have tended to accord great honour to legislators. In these countries, the legislative arm of government is seen as a ladder leading to national unity, peace, and development.

As important as the business of law making is to the stability and growth of every democracy, some societies simply see and treat legislators like other citizens. It is patriotic zeal that most drive their passion. But in a very sharp contrast, legislators in Nigeria's three tiers of government shamelessly blindfold the citizenry and arrogated so much power to themselves. They are mostly insensitive to the plight of the common man. Sadly, Nigerians are beginning to see Nigerian legislators to be representing their individual pockets- not the nation. This could be the only reason why Nigeria's law makers earn outrageous salaries while over 70% of public servants are unable to rely on their income to service the feeding, housing, transport, health, education, and social needs of their families. It is also believed that Nigerian law makers are the highest paid in the world. This is ridiculous when married to the fact that as the world's ninth largest exporter of crude oil, Nigeria is still ranked as "underdeveloped" in the real sense of it.

An average Nigerian senator earns about N240m annually while their counterparts in the House of Representatives go home with about N204m. This development is very sad for a country that lacks basic social amenities such as roads, hospitals, schools, water, and electricity.

On recently, the Nigerian nation was shocked when the CBN governor, Mallam Lamido Sanusi disclosed that a whooping 25% of the nation's entire budget was used to service members of the National Assembly alone. The legislative arm of government do not deserve this excessive "padding" culture. There are no visible improvements in the lives of ordinary Nigerians for legislators to merit the outrageous salaries and allowances they take home.

We do not need Prophet T.B. Joshua to prophesy that Nigerians are tired and angry. The leadership of the National Assembly should as a matter of urgency do a soul searching and voluntarily downsize their wages before the masses march on Abuja to make a physical demand for justice and fairness in the utilisation of the nation's wealth.

On the other hand, the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Committee (RMFAC) should commence actions to flog the National Assembly in line with reason, justice and fair play. This is the only way the confidence of the masses will be strengthened.