Former Nigeria’s Attorney General Advocates Slash Of Legislators Salary

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A former Attorney General of Nigeria, Mr Richard Akinjide, has stressed the need for the salaries of legislators to be reappraised and slashed if possible, emphasising that politics should not be seen as an avenue of making money but a medium to serve the people.

Mr Akinjide, made the statement in an interview with Channels Television on Wednesday while giving his opinion on Nigeria’s 54th Independence Anniversary and the journey so far.

He said that Nigeria had done extremely well when compared with some other African countries and expressed hopes that the nation would attain greater heights.

“If we have areas to address, i think one of them should be that of the salary of the legislators. I think their salary is too much. It should be looked into. If you want to be rich don’t go into politics. If you want to serve the people go into politics.

“When I entered parliament and I was there in my 20s my salary was 800 pounds a year and I was very happy and very proud of it. One of the things we recommended in our committee in our recent report in Abuja is for a reappraisal of the salaries of the legislators,” he said.

Mr Akinjide emphasised, however, that the fact that the salaries of the legislators are high does not make a presidential system of government expensive as believed by many.

The elder statesman, who was a delegate in the national conference, however, stressed the need for the government to continue to address grey areas, like the diversification of the economy, which he said was affecting the per capita income.

“I think that we should look at diversifying the economy. When I was small we use to export cocoa, groundnut and other agricultural produce. We should look at tapping other mineral resources in Nigeria.”

Mr Akinjide had had the privilege of experiencing different governments in Nigeria and he insisted that the current government was doing extremely well and that the presidential system of government was better than the parliamentary system, which he had been a part of.

“Nigeria has done extremely well. It is not easy to write the history of Africa.

“The economic powers are in the hands of the Europeans and not really in the hands of Africans. Some African countries are just beginning to take hold of their economies. We still have a long way to go. The Asians have gone a bit far. But I am sure that years to come, we will still make it.

“If you make a few analysis, the economic situation now is by far better than what we have ever had in the history of this country. The only challenge we have is that is the question of oil because nobody can defend importing refined oil again, considering the amount of oil we produce.

“We are the largest producer of oil in the whole of Africa and I cannot defend importing oil into this country. The number of universities in Nigeria has increased the same thing is in colleges of education, secondary and primary schools.

“If you do a fair balance, I think Nigeria has done extremely well in the whole of Africa,” Mr Akinjide said, stressing that at the moment Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa.