A former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirant, Dr. Abdul-Jhalil Tafawa-Balewa, has lambasted lawmakers in all legislative arms, saying they have failed the people of their various constituencies.

Reacting to the socio-economic challenges facing the people in the various communities, the medical doctor and businessman said it was a “shame that Nigeria is in the state that it is.”

According to him, “now, a lot of the elected representatives of the people at the Senate, House of Representatives, at the state assemblies and local government councillors are supposed to do community work in their constituencies.

“The senators, Reps and state assembly members receive a lot more money than lawmakers in the same positions in other parts of the world. And they have this community project that they are supposed to perform each time, which they do not do, or when they do, it is usually so partial that the rest of the money is kept in their own pockets. I just don’t understand what a large majority of these people are going to do with all the money. I think more community jobs, more community involvement need to happen at this time.”

According to him, in spite of receiving a lot more now than at any time in the country’s history, not much is getting to the people from various elected officials.

He said every Nigerian should know how much a senator, House of Reps members or a government of the state receive for development purposes ”then we can now start asking them what they do with that money because this is our commonwealth. The money belongs to all of us. It doesn’t belong to one person or a group of people.

“This group of people are elected to be able to represent us and that’s what democracy is all about. We chose them to represent us. It is really very disheartening to see that even with more money flowing within the government, that less and less is getting to the people.”

Tafawa-Balewa added that the last administration of President Muhammadu Buhari “was particularly brutal for the coffers of the Nigerian government.

“Both the Federal Government and the governor of the central bank, for lack of a better expression, dipped their hands deep into the coffers of Nigeria and its reserves.”

He also decried the battle lines drawn between the state and the local governments over statutory allocations to the local government.

He said the local government was supposed to be the closest to the people yet people at the grassroots were still groaning in poverty.

Tafawa-Balewa, who noted that one of the main problems in Nigeria right now was cost of food, said many people could not feed their families.

He said if the government would not want to regulate food prices, the market should be open for free competition.

“For instance, the borders have been opened and the price of rice is going down. The prices of some other foods are going down.”

He said the people’s representatives should step in, go into their various communities and impact constituents. (Daily Sun)