Lagos lawmakers award themselves N155M mansion

Lagos lawmakers are under fire after setting aside a staggering ₦6.2 billion in the 2025 budget to buy 40 luxury homes in Lagos or Abuja—handing each member of the Assembly a house worth about ₦155 million.

Budget records show that by June, over ₦1 billion—16% of the allocation—had already been spent. Critics say the deal looks like a “golden handshake” for lawmakers as they near the end of their terms.

This is not the first time the Assembly has padded its budget with controversial property perks. In 2024, the same line item ballooned from ₦1.22 billion to ₦6.2 billion, though just ₦126 million was spent. A year earlier, ₦1.131 billion of ₦1.22 billion—92%—was blown before the year ended. The documents remain silent on who pocketed the houses from those earlier splurges.

Constitutional experts argue the scheme is illegal, noting that Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution only allows pensions for governors and deputies—not for lawmakers.

The uproar mirrors past battles across the country. Bayelsa’s former governor Seriake Dickson once blocked a “life pension” bill for legislators, while Abia and Benue have scrapped fat-pension laws for ex-governors.

Lagos has its own history of broken promises. In 2021, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu vowed to repeal the state’s pension law for ex-governors, only for the Assembly to water it down—halving the benefits instead of scrapping them.

Now, with ₦6.2 billion earmarked for lawmakers’ mansions, many Lagosians are asking: how many more “retirement gifts” will taxpayers be forced to bankroll?.