June 12: Nigeria democracy too expensive — Obanikoro

• This is even as he underscored the need to review the budgets of the National Assembly in order to reduce the cost of governance

A former Minister of State for Defence, Sen. Musiliu Obanikoro, has bemoaned the high cost of democracy and governance in Nigeria, saying the system of government is too expensive.

This is even as he underscored the need to review the budgets of the National Assembly in order to reduce the cost of governance.

Speaking during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos in commemoration of Nigeria’s Democracy Day, Obanikoro called for transparency and openness in national assembly budget.

Nigeria operates a bicameral legislature made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

“Democracy doesn’t have to be this expensive, that is one thing we don’t get right.

“It is expensive because we have made it so. Let me give you a good example because we borrowed this system from America.

“In America they don’t provide accommodation for lawmakers, they fend for themselves when it comes to that, they live basically on salary and very small fringe benefits,” Obanikoro said.

He said that Nigeria could also work toward that, and make the budget of the National Assembly more transparent.

“When the budget is more transparent, and people can go online and see what is allocated to every member of the National Assembly and can also input into the process, I do believe that will make the process or the institution less expensive,” he said.

Obanikoro noted that the recent call for return to parliamentary system of government was spurred partly by lack of transparency in budget of the two legislative chamber.

”This clamour that the bicameral system of legislature should be jettisoned will reduce if the budget is reduced, because the idea is that there are some budgetary provisions that should never be in our books and we must be bold enough to expunge them.

“We cut the budget size of the National Assembly to a reasonable level that an average Nigerian can live with,” Obanikoro, a former High Commissioner to Ghana, said.