Pages: 46-60

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to examines the intrigues, power play and accusations surrounding the National Assembly budgetary allocations between 1999 and 2016.This is because since it was inaugurated in June 1999, the Legislature of Nigeria’s Fourth Republic has been roundly defined as an enigmatic one, due to the many twists and turns which accompanied its leadership and membership. It is no longer news that Nigerian legislators are the highest paid lawmakers in the world. When this fact was first revealed a few years ago, the federal lawmakers tried to justify the jumbo pay package without any success. The data for this study was generated from Focus Group Discussion and documentary sources which include books, journals and online materials. The technique of content analysis constituted our data analysis technique. Among the conclusion drawn is for Nigeria to return to the core argument that by paying excessively high salaries and emoluments to top public officials; in particular, permanent secretaries, ministers and legislators, we are mortgaging the rights of our people to development. We suggested among others the need to spend the bulk of available public resources to provide improved infrastructure, health and education to our citizens. As petroleum revenues continue to decline, the reality on the ground is that we can no longer sustain the current expenditure profile we are running the paper concluded.