A former governor of Ogun State, Gbenga Daniel, is open to the possibility of increasing funds that lawmakers receive to execute constituency projects to curry goodwill with their constituents.
By law, federal lawmakers get allocations in the annual budget to execute zonal intervention projects in their constituencies. Even though the process has been plagued for years by a lack of transparency, senators are believed to receive ₦200 million annually to execute these projects.
The lawmakers don't get the funds directly and are only mandated to identify useful projects for their constituents, but critics believe they have an undue influence on who gets awarded the contracts, leaving room for corruption.
Despite the cloud over the administration of constituency projects, Daniel, currently the senator representing Ogun East, said the fund needs to be increased to make life easier for lawmakers.
The former governor said his position is based on the wrong perception Nigerians have about what the roles of lawmakers should be. He noted that the job of a lawmaker should primarily be about making laws, but constituents are more interested in projects they can see with their eyes.
"The level of poverty is so that they just say, 'Look, the governor is doing his job; you too as a senator, what are you bringing home? Where are the roads you're tarring? What have you facilitated?'
"When you're not able to do that, you better be sure that from your allowances, you're doing a lot of things," he said.
Why lawmakers get funds for constituency projects
The constituency projects allocation was first introduced in 1999 after lawmakers complained about their constituents demanding to see the dividends of democracy in their immediate environments.
Daniel lamented that he would not be perceived as a successful lawmaker if he doesn't have projects to show during his time in office. He said this explains why he doesn't support slashing the allowances of lawmakers because they have to satisfy their people somehow, even from their own private pockets.
"I think going forward, what may happen is the possibility of looking at the law again and ensuring that, for these constituency projects, a lot more is given to lawmakers, because that's the only thing people want to hear," he said.
Daniel made waves last week after he wrote the current Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun, requesting the payment of his pension as a former governor be suspended while he's a senator.
He was inaugurated into the National Assembly last month, 12 years after he left office as governor, a position he filled for eight years between 2003 and 2011.