By our Reporter
The Lagos State House of Assembly has set aside ₦6.2 billion in its 2025 budget to acquire 40 properties in Lagos or Abuja, effectively handing each of its lawmakers a house valued at about ₦155 million.
According to the state’s second-quarter 2025 budget performance report, ₦1 billion 16.1% of the total had already been spent by June. With 40 members in the Assembly, the appropriation suggests the package is designed as a parting gift for every legislator.
This line item has become a recurring feature of the Assembly’s budgets. In 2024, the provision for properties rose sharply from ₦1.22 billion to ₦6.2 billion, though just ₦126 million (about 2%) was eventually spent. By contrast, in 2023, lawmakers expended ₦1.131 billion of the ₦1.22 billion allocation over 92% of the sum largely before the fourth quarter. The document, however, was silent on whether those earlier purchases went to members of the ninth Assembly, which concluded that year.
The legality of the arrangement remains uncertain. Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution, under Section 124(5), permits state assemblies to legislate pensions or gratuities for governors and their deputies, but does not extend this privilege to legislators.
The controversy mirrors past clashes in other states. In 2019, then-Bayelsa Governor Seriake Dickson refused to assent to a “life pension” bill for lawmakers, arguing that assemblies could adjust pension amounts but not extend eligibility. More recently, Abia and Benue States scrapped generous pension laws for ex-governors, reversing years of entrenched perks.
Lagos itself has a mixed record. In 2021, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu pledged to repeal the Public Office Holder (Payment of Pension) Law, which guaranteed benefits for former governors and deputies. Ten months later, however, the Assembly opted only to slash those entitlements by half rather than abolish them.
This latest allocation has reignited debate on the often overlooked retirement benefits of state legislators, with critics questioning its constitutional basis and timing.
