Senator Ali Ndume, who represents Borno South, wants to overhaul the way Nigeria’s National Assembly works. He says lawmakers should operate part-time instead of full-time, and they should only get paid for the days they actually show up for plenary sessions and committee meetings.
He laid out these views in a Friday interview on Trust TV. Ndume questioned the current setup and the heavy cost of running the legislature.
Lawmakers don’t clock in like ordinary civil servants, he pointed out. Their work revolves around those sittings and committee assignments.
“To me, I have said it before. What are we doing? We have been on recess several times. Let us be paid by sitting. If you sit, you get paid. If you are not sitting, you are not paid,” Ndume said.
“And to me, we can even make the National Assembly work part-time. On Wednesday, we all assembled for an emergency meeting on an important national issue, which is state policing, even though I have reservations about the speed and the way they are handling it.”
He also criticized how the state police debate is being handled. Rushing big decisions on something this sensitive is a bad idea, he warned. Constitutional changes like this need wider consultation, real discussion, and input from all the right people before anyone votes.
The Senate shouldn’t hurry through major bills just because the executive is applying pressure.
“The Senate is a committee of elders. You don’t just come one day, sit down because the President wants state police, and pass it overnight,” he said.
“You are supposed to sit down, deliberate on it and get the necessary input. We have passed the bill. Has state police taken off today?”
