Femi Gbajabiamila, chief of staff to President Bola Tinubu, says lawmakers face growing public criticism for using budget insertions to meet demands outside their constitutional mandate.
He spoke on Tuesday at the opening ceremony of the 2025 open
week of the house of representatives in Abuja.
Gbajabiamila, a former speaker of the house of
representatives, said the public expects legislators to provide social services
such as roads, classrooms, water, and electricity, even though those
responsibilities legally belong to the executive and local government.
“It is a source of frustration that, nearly three decades
later, the vast majority of our nation’s people still do not fully comprehend
the legislative functions, powers, responsibilities, and limitations of each
member of parliament and the institution,” he said.
Gbajabiamila described the dissonance between public
expectations and constitutional roles as one of the most serious threats to Nigeria’s
legislature.
In May, BudgIT, a civic tech non-profit organisation, said
it uncovered 11,122 projects valued at N6.93 trillion inserted by the national
assembly into the 2025 budget.
Budgit said the practice, which began as an isolated
irregularity has, over the years, evolved into a “deeply entrenched culture of
exploitation and abuse” by top-ranking members of the national assembly.
But Gbajabiamila offered a different explanation, arguing
that lawmakers often turn to budget insertions as the only available tool to
meet their constituents’ expectations for development projects.
“A member of the house of representatives who isn’t actively
engaged in providing education and healthcare facilities, who isn’t doing road
construction and waste management, while delivering sustained empowerment for
commercial activities, is not going to be a legislator for very long,” he said.
“The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria did not
envisage such a role for the legislator and did not make provisions for it to
perform in this capacity. Yet, political reality requires the legislator to
meet these constituency demands by whatever means.”
He said the breakdown of local government administration in
Nigeria has left a vacuum that lawmakers are now expected to fill, blurring the
lines between legislative and executive functions.
Gbajabiamila warned that the situation creates a cycle of
dysfunction and resentment, where lawmakers are criticised for using
appropriations to deliver social services they were never designed to provide.
”When that assumption of good faith is tied to your ability
to perform functions that are frankly beyond your scope, it becomes a recipe
for dysfunction and resentment,” he said.
“Dysfunction because the provision of social services is an
executive function and must be done systematically through a coordinated policy
process to ensure sustainability.
“For example, when the executive builds roads, there is a
framework for maintenance through the public works department. No legislator
can provide that, nor should they be expected to.”
Gbajabiamila said the Tinubu administration is working to
restore the autonomy and functionality of the local government system through adequate
funding, transparency, and accountability.
He noted that in advanced democracies, local governments
handle most quality-of-life issues that Nigerians currently demand from their
federal representatives.
“Everything from waste management to the regulation of local
commerce, basic education, healthcare, and even community policing and security
are local government functions,” he said.
Gbajabiamila noted that once local governments have the
resources and independence to function as intended by the constitution,
lawmakers will return to their core duties of making laws, developing policy,
and holding the executive accountable.
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