The reported decision of the Lagos State House of Assembly to reward its 40 members with a N155 million house each as ‘parting gifts’ is selfish and inconsistent with prevailing economic conditions. This amounts to N6.2 billion out of the state budget. Weeks after the report, it has not been denied by the concerned body.

This act of self-gratification by the Lagos State legislators is just one of a series of excesses of political office holders in betrayal of their oath to perform their respective functions in the interest of the sovereignty, integrity, solidarity, well-being, and prosperity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Such acts are not only unethical and insensitive, but they also amount to abuse of office.

For 40 citizens, out of a population of close to 20 million, to exploit their vantage position to vote billions of public funds for their own housing is a clear betrayal of voters’ trust. This is one more reason that Nigerians contemptuously view the political class as a bunch of self-seekers.

Since 2007, many governors and deputy governors have chosen to prioritise elite privilege over public interest and the welfare of the people who entrusted them with leadership. It is an irony that a state that prides itself on excellence would set such a bad example of constitutional illegality. Two or so decades after, it has assumed a culture among the ruling political class in the country to reduce public service to mere self-service that maximises material returns of being in government. It is nothing but a plunder of the commonwealth by a predatory ruling class.

Rogue pension laws that grant obscene rewards in cash and kind for a few years of service in government is unconscionable; the-devil-may-care attitude to citizens’ opinion is arrogant to the point of disdain. The obvious illegality of these selective state laws in favour of political officeholders in the face of the clear provisions of the 1999 Constitution speaks volumes about the character of people who make the laws of the land. Altogether, these constitute a betrayal of public trust.

Universally, it is unethical to fix your own salary and other emoluments. Granted that the extant constitution in section 124(1) gives the state legislatures powers to fix remuneration and salaries of holders of public offices from the governor through the auditor–general to some bodies established by law, this is, however, subject to the decision of another body. The important proviso in the clause states that ‘such remuneration and salaries … [must not exceed] the amount as shall be determined by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation, and Fiscal Commission’.

This commission is the only authority constitutionally empowered to ‘determine the remuneration appropriate for political office holders, including the President, Vice-President, Governors, Deputy-Governors, Ministers, Commissioners, Special Advisers, Legislators, and the holders of the offices mentioned in sections 84 and 124 of this Constitution…’. This is the law of the land; any lawmaking body at any tier of government that defies it by an act of omission or commission passes a sad comment on itself.

To seek public office for the purpose of advancing, largely, self-interest is utterly immoral; it is also a violation of the letter and spirit of the constitution as stipulated in section 14(2)(b). People in government need reminding of this overarching provision, to wit: ‘the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government…’

Lagos State may be relatively richer than most others; however, the funds that drain from public coffers to service the insatiable rapacity of political office holders in the states are humongous; the money would transform noticeably the economic and social conditions of their people if judiciously invested. Lagos State is still far from what it can and should be as a modern 21st-century cosmopolitan city. Notwithstanding an amendment to the law that reportedly has reduced the remuneration due to its former office holders, the state can do with the precious funds drained from its coffers by this and the so-called parting gift. As rightly put by BudgIT, a public expenditure scrutinising private organisation, acts of ‘fiscal imprudence’ such as this compound the fiscal burden of states, a burden on resources from public services and infrastructure development.

Because a self-seeking attitude has infected most people in position of government, even politicians in relatively poor and largely unproductive states have followed the less than honourable Lagos example of 2007 to legislate huge rewards for departing office holders. This is despite their poor state of finance. By 2019, 23 states had enacted pension laws for their outgoing governors and deputy governors. Mercifully, by 2024, five states, including Abia, Zamfara, Taraba and Benue states, had revoked these controversial laws. Media reports in May 2023 quoted figures from the Debt Management Office (DMO) that 18 states that provided huge remunerations for their ex-governors and their deputies owed a combined total of N3.06 trillion in local and foreign debts.

By simple economic commonsense, remuneration should necessarily be tied to productivity. If the quantity and quality of pieces of legislation that come out of the state legislatures (and even the national legislature) are properly considered, there can be no dispute that these bodies are far less productive than they can and should be.

Above all, the impact of their laws to improve the security and welfare of the peoples in their respective jurisdictions leaves much to be desired. Real socio-economic indicators show that the life of the average citizens is insecure and impoverished, attributable in no small part to the expropriation of public resources to service the nigh-insatiable material greed of public officials.

In many states, laws are in place to periodically pay hundreds of millions to former state executives, in addition to such things as houses and vehicles. A certain state is reported to provide close to N100 million as medical allowance to its governor. States cannot continue with this aberration and achieve any modicum of economic development.

Notably, many of the beneficiaries of these obnoxious remunerations have moved into other public offices as ministers and senators. They, in effect, collect double remuneration. To receive multiple remunerations not only puts in doubt the conduct and integrity of concerned persons, but it also questions their fitness for leadership in its fullest meaning. No one trusted with public office will be remembered for mindless material acquisition. On the contrary, elected officials will be remembered only for doing what they ought for the common good.

A political leadership position is more than an administrative office, but a place of moral leadership. For the sake of Nigerians and Nigeria, state governors should lead by example from which moral high ground they can effectively eschew obscene self-gratification and embrace fiscal prudence.