Nigeria: Unity Party calls for part-time legislature

A politician, Prince Rotimi Paseda, of Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), has suggested a part-time legislature for the country to reduce what he described as “outrageous pay” of legislators.

Paseda also called for stiffer penalty for any politician or public officer found guilty in the ongoing anti-corruption war of the present administration.

He noted that until treasury looters were severely punished, people who found themselves by hook or crook in government would continue to plunder the nation’s resources to the detriment of the majority.

Paseda, who was the Ogun governorship candidate of the UPN in the last general elections, spoke in Abeokuta, while featuring as guest at the Correspondents’ Forum organised by members of the ‎Correspondents’ Chapel, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Ogun State.

His words, “I must say that the country can no longer sustain the outrageous salaries and allowances that are paid to our legislators. We should start voting for career officers or successful people into our National and State Assemblies ‎so that they can be paid sitting allowance instead of salaries,” he added.

He dismissed the notion that without restructuring Nigeria, no leader can effectively provide good governance in the country.

“Our problem is not restructuring but leadership. Political leadership is our problem and President Muhammadu Buhari’s leadership has proved this.

“If we elect right leaders into positions, we will be successful. But the problem is, most often, we elect leaders that prefer to initiate policies that would keep the masses poor, so that they will be able to control them.”