Editorial
June 24, 2026 by Our Reporter
NASS’s illegal allowances
- Now that a court has declared them unlawful, we expect the law makers to stop such insensitive expenditures
Justice Yellim Bogoro of the Federal High Court in Lagos has ruled that the National Assembly’s N110bn vehicle and allowance schemes are unlawful. The Suit No.: FHC/CS/1606/2023 was filed by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), in August, 2023. The defendants are Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas.
We commend SERAP for pursuing this socio-economic issue through the courts instead of taking the laws into their hands or instigating civil unrest which might have been counter-productive. The judgment, which was given on May 6 outlined that the N40bn for 465 vehicles for federal lawmakers, which comes to about N305 million per SUV, and N70bn in ‘support allowances’ for newly-elected members of the NASS breached the procurement laws. The spending violates the ‘Public Procurement Act 2007, specifically, Section 57(4) which mandates economy,, efficiency and public interest’.
There was ‘no due process’ for such a huge expenditure. This, the judge pointed out led him to conclude that the “procurement is arbitrary, disproportionate and inconsistent with statutory procurement standards”. This, to him, amounts to ‘self-dealing and conflict of interest’.
The beneficiaries of the expenditure are the very officials approving it and the expenditure confers direct pecuniary and material benefits to them.
Beyond the above legal breaches, the judge ruled that the action of the defendants was a breach of the constitution that violates the ‘Code of Conduct for Public Officers and the oath of office prescribed by the Constitution’. Their actions equally failed the ‘Public trust test’.
Justice Bogoro insists that beyond legal and constitutional breaches, the action seems to ignore the existing economic realities in the country and is also a “failure to prioritise national interest”.
We commend the court too for its intervention in this matter because, beyond the voices of SERAP and other NGOs, many Nigerians have been lamenting about the lawmakers’ constant violation of the constitution as it concerns their personal welfare. The judge ordered that all future procurements and expenditures must comply with the due process, transparency, accountability and value for money. The court rejected the NASS’s defence of legislative autonomy which the court feels cannot be used as a ‘shield against illegality’.
This is a sound judgment even though it is coming almost three years after the case was filed. The issue of the allowances is such a national issue. The legislative rascality has lasted too long and the country and the people have lost a lot of money through the National Assembly.
We find it ironic that the legislature, which is populated by people from the grassroots representing their people can be so brazen in violating their oaths of office and costing the people too much money to maintain at a period of economic downturn.
Read Also: Nigeria’s economic reform a model, says UK NSA
It is ironic too that the legislative arm of government that ought to have oversight functions on the executive, has, through this lack of sensitivity and lack of adherence to due process, abdicated that crucial role of providing checks and balances on the executive. For a country that has just celebrated 27 years since the return to democratic rule, more sensitivity is expected from the legislative arm.
While this judgment is about the National Assembly, we are aware that financial extravagance and lack of accountability is also an issue with the executive arm of governments at local, state and federal levels. Complaints about acute poverty in the country are often a product of the insensitivity of most of those in the executive arm of government. There seems to be a lot of extravagance amongst many public officers in ways that do not show sensitivity to the economic realities of the moment.
We are worried that decades after independence, public servants across the different arms of government have not shown, through their actions, that they understand that to serve is to put the people first and lead by example.
We urge the citizens to have a rethink and understand that democracy is different from monarchical or military governments where the leaders almost operate with imperial arrogance and expect the people to serve them in silence. There is no room for ostentatious lifestyle that stems from disobedience to the constitution and lack of accountability.
We hope that SERAP can go ahead and demand for refunds from the National Assembly members. Given that a new National Assembly would be inaugurated in about a year from now, that would be a deterrent to the 11th assembly and the future ones too. There must be punishment for breaking the law.
