- The Lagos State Capitol allocated $6.2 billion in its 2025 budget to buy 40 properties in Lagos or Abuja, effectively giving each member a home worth about 155 million.
- The budget report shows that $1 billion had been spent by June, sparking controversy over the legality and timing of benefits, as the constitution does not grant legislators pension or remuneration rights.
The Lagos State Capitol has allocated $6.2 billion in its 2025 budget to purchase 40 properties in Lagos or Abuja, and actually allocated about 155 million homes to each member of the parliament.
According to the 2025 budget performance report for the second quarter of the General Assembly (US$1 billion), 16.1% of the total has been spent by June. There are 40 legislators in the chamber, and the grant appears to provide retirement plans for each member.
This expenditure has become a recurring item in the Conference budget. In 2024, the provisions for lawmakers’ property jumped from $1.22 billion to 6.2 billion, although it ended up spending only 126 million (about 2%). By comparison, 2023 records show that 1.131 billion of the $1.22 billion was used before the fourth quarter. However, these reports on whether the acquisitions were distributed to members of the Ninth Congress that ended that year.
The legitimacy of such distribution is not yet clear. Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution, under Article 124 (5), enables the state legislature to legislate pensions or remunerations for the governor and his representatives, but does not provide such provisions for lawmakers.
This development reflects similar controversies elsewhere. In 2019, then-Bayersa Governor Seriake Dickson rejected a bill granting legislators a life pension, emphasizing that the General Assembly could adjust the pension amount but not create new entitlements. Recently, Abia and Benue said they scrapped pension laws for the former government on the grounds of public opposition.
In Lagos, Governor Babajid Sanwo-olu guaranteed in 2021 to repeal the Public Office Holder (Pay Pension) law that guarantees the lifelong interests of the former governor and representatives. However, the Assembly later revised the law to cut rights in half instead of repealing them
