A former Peoples Democratic Party presidential aspirant, Abduljhalil Tafawa-Balewa, says lawmakers in all legislative houses have failed the people of their various constituencies.
Mr Tafawa-Balewa said this in an interview with journalists in Lagos while reacting to the socio-economic challenges faced by Nigerians.
“It is a shame that Nigeria is in this state,” said Mr Tafawa-Balewa. “Now, a lot of elected representatives of the people at the Senate, House of Representatives, state assemblies and local government legislative houses are supposed to do community work in their constituencies.”
He stated that the lawmakers at federal and state levels receive more pay than their counterparts in other countries but fail to execute community projects in their various constituencies.
“And they have these community projects that they are supposed to execute each time, which they do not do, or when they do, it is usually so poorly done that the rest of the money is kept in their own pockets.
“I just don’t understand what a large majority of these people will do with all the money,” the former presidential aspirant said.
According to him, despite receiving a lot more now under this administration than at any other time in the country’s history, not much is getting to the people from the various elected officials.
He said every Nigerian should know how much a senator, House of Reps member, and state governor receive for development purposes, ”then we can now start asking them what they do with that money”.
“These people are elected to be able to represent us, and that’s what democracy is all about. We chose them to represent us.
“It is really very disheartening to see that even with more money flowing within the government, less and less is getting to the people,” Mr Tafawa-Balewa said.
Speaking further, Mr Tafawa-Balewa said the last administration of President Muhammadu Buhari was particularly guilty of squandering.
“Both the federal government and the governor of the Central Bank, for lack of a better expression, dipped their hands deep into the coffers of Nigeria and its reserves,” he said.
Mr Tafawa-Balewa also decried disagreements between the state and the local governments over statutory allocations to the local government.
He said the local government was supposed to be the closest to the people, but the people at the grassroots were still groaning in poverty.
Mr Tafawa-Balewa noted that one of Nigeria’s main problems now was high food costs and that many people could not feed their families.
He said that if the government was unwilling to regulate food prices, the market should be open for free competition.
“For instance, the borders have been opened, and the price of rice is going down. The price of some other foods are going down,” he said.
He said the people’s representatives should step in, go into their various communities and impact on constituents.
(NAN)
