Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo recently addressed the issue of lawmakers determining their own salaries, describing it as unconstitutional and morally wrong. Speaking at the 60th-anniversary celebration of Aare Afe Babalola's call to the Bar in Ado Ekiti, Obasanjo criticized the practice, asserting that those who should be upholding the law are instead undermining it.
Obasanjo emphasized that the responsibility of fixing salaries for elected officials lies with the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC). However, he pointed out that lawmakers have taken it upon themselves to determine their own salaries, disregarding the constitutional provisions.
According to Obasanjo, "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."
He further expressed his disapproval, stating, "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."