By Ola Ajayi
IBADAN—FORMER  Attorney- General and Minister of Justice, Chief Richard Akinjide (SAN), has condemned the take home pay of members of the National Assembly, describing it as looting of treasury.

Chief Akinjide who spoke as a guest lecturer at the 3rd convocation lecture of the Lead City University, Ibadan yesterday,  expressed regrets that he had never seen such outrageous allowances since he started practising as a member of parliament since 1959.

Lamenting that the salaries of our lawmakers were higher than that of American President, President Barak Obama, he stated that “what is happening at the National Assembly nowadays could be aptly described in two words— “treasury looting”.

The legal luminary who spoke on the topic, “the risk of Implosion “explained further that during his own time, they were there for public service and not for poverty alleviation as we have today.

He said: “I became a member of parliament in December 12, 1959 and I was there during the independence and after independence. I have never seen anything like what is going on today.”

What is going on at the national Assembly can be summarized in two words: treasury looting.”
When I entered the Parliament in 1959. I started practizing as a member of parliament at the age of 24 and I entered the parliament at 27. Then,  my pay was 840 Pounds per annum.

There was no car; there was no house. We only had free tea and coffee whenever Parliament was  meeting”.

To him,  “the revelation by the CBN governor is unbelievable. We are now subject of ridicule all over the world. I have been to the Parliament of several countries like Israel, Japan, London and there
is nothing like that. It is alarming; it is worrying. You go there for public service not for poverty alleviation.

The honour then was being a member of Parliament.”

He said that we don’t really have a nation but a country adding that the problem we are encountering to day was the handiwork of the colonialists.

Akinjide added that until we change the structure made by Lord Lugard, the country may not get its bearing forever. “What we have today is a country and not a nation and until we have a nation we cannot have any progress., he stated.

He attributed the nagging problem the country is having to lack of good leadership noting that the problem became worse because those who don’t know are the ones governing those who know.

Due to bad leadership, he reasoned that our economy is regressing. He asked that people should go to various Houses of Assembly and look at the quality of those legislating for the states. to check this ugly development, he advised that all people should join politics so that bad people would not continue to rule us.