Adejoro Adeogun also says the House of Representatives is not as corrupt as many Nigerians think.
ByZainab Adewale December 16, 2023 Reading Time: 15 mins read
Adejoro Adeogun, a former member of the House of Representatives for Akoko South West/ East Federal Constituency of Ondo State from 2019 to 2023, sat down with PREMIUM TIMES’ Managing Editor, Idris Akinbajo, and House of Representatives correspondent, Bakare Majeed, to discuss his time in the House, the politics of Ondo State, the cost of elections and other issues.
PT: What do you miss most about the House of Representatives?
Mr Adeogun: Absolutely nothing. I didn’t miss anything. I’m actually having a ball, being a private citizen, being a father to my children, and being able to recover from what I almost missed. I almost missed the best time of the growth of my children. I mean, when you have kids going through teenage issues, which is when they need a father most, I think, I was absent and it kind of affected my relationship with my kids. So I’m having to go backward now trying to recover what I almost lost and be a fantastic father to my kids. So I am not missing anything.
PT: It does sound as if you regret going into public office.
Mr Adeogun: No, I would not say that I regret it. No, I did not because I had the opportunity to serve my people or to do a lot of things I would not have ordinarily been able to do in terms of getting jobs for a lot of young people. There are a lot of people who would not ordinarily be unemployed today that have through my intervention been able to catch up. There are some infrastructure developments in my area that you know, were because of my efforts. And there were interventions I made as a legislator within the national space and National Assembly that I think today, a landmark achievement for which, you know, I’ll forever be grateful to God for the opportunity. So I have no regrets.
PT: The community you represented in Ondo State, do you think they are satisfied with your four years as their representative in Abuja?
Mr Adeogun: Let me borrow words from someone I used to work with that a masquerade does not see its back. When a masquerade is dancing, it does not see its back. The only thing you could do is probably listen to the sound of the spectators to see if they were clapping and if they were not clapping. If the sound I heard while I was holding the office and the feedback I am getting is to go back, I think they actually thought I did exceedingly well.
PT: How much did you earn in your four years in the House?
Mr Adeogun: First, national lawmakers are not paid quarterly allowance, they get paid monthly. And secondly, as a private citizen today, I earn more income than I was earning from the House of Reps and then my responsibilities are like 10 per cent of what it was. As a lawmaker, I was borrowing money every month to meet with obligations, with responsibilities. Maybe because I have a good heart or because of my level of humaneness. I couldn’t afford to say ‘no’ to people who come to me when they have problems and then the fact that I had about 80-something aides that I paid monthly. So at the beginning of every month, half of what I earn is gone from the day it’s earned. So I have also always borrowed funds from my business. So now, whatever I get from my business, is for my well-being, for my family and my kids, they’re happy for it.
PT: If the cost of staying in public office is that high, why then do politicians spend hundreds of millions to get into the National Assembly?
Mr Adeogun: You see, you have to understand this, there’s something called legitimate income – and I come from a background where your legitimate income is earned. I was trained. I was educated to understand that I should be able to manage my income. So I wasn’t looking for excesses. I’m not saying that people aren’t doing it, so if there are people who are making money, I don’t know how they are making it. But then, if you are dealing with the income that accrues to a legislator in Nigeria, it’s a pittance. It is not enough to get anything done. You know, comparatively to what citizens earn, it’s a lot but then you have to look at the responsibilities of a lawmaker. In 2019, when I ran for the first House of Reps, I spent about roughly N300 million to N350 million. Now you ask why I did it. I felt challenged. I felt my community was insulted. For me, it was a fight. I wanted to show them that someone could rise and take them on or fight them to a stupor, and I knew that I had to do everything possible to win and I won. For me, that was a moral victory. I recall that the present governor was seeking reelection, and then he came to make peace with us. That is what I’ve always wanted.
PT: Why
Mr Adeogun: I’m from Akoko South West and I had a request for only one thing, come and apologise to my community.
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PT: What was his (Rotimi Akeredolu) offence?
Mr Adeogun: One week after my election, for some reason, a crisis happened because of the election, and then policemen were sent to the community and they killed people. Now in anger, I think the governor now decreed that there was a 24-hour curfew on the community. Which one is 24-hour curfew and is there war? The order was that two or more people must not be seen together going to fetch water in a community where the majority of households fetch water from wells or streams. To fetch water from a well, you need to be two, minimum. Now, a lot more people died because of that because people couldn’t go to the well. So it was more like you know – more of a political war to make the community suffer for whatever error they made in supporting their son. And for me, I felt that the community was cheated, and then it’s more likely over time. Before then, imagine coming from a community in which nobody in the community is fit enough to be respected. So it was more like how I was asked to come and help to show that we too, we have competent people. So for me, you know, getting into politics was more like you know, to rectify the deliberate war and I was ready to sacrifice myself for that.
PT: I find it interesting that you admitted that you spent over N300 million on your first election. And you talked about income from being a lawmaker very little. But our understanding is that apart from the monthly salary that lawmakers get, you also get office running costs. How much on average do you get monthly?
Mr Adeogun: You see, I’m gonna tell you this. for four years I received N450 million, total in four years. So now, when you look at the fact that you know, I had about 86 aides, and I have to pay them monthly, I have to pay traditional rulers, you have other stakeholders you have to pay. So at the end of every month, like I said, from the day I get paid at least five to six million naira is gone. And then when I look at other obligations, I was spending an average of N16 to N20 million a month, whereas the total income, salary everything, was less than nine million naira. So you find out you’re spending twice what you’re earning. That is the reality. And I’m not just speaking for me. I can tell you that most legislators that are in the House of Reps, even the ones that are stingy, maybe because they didn’t have the kind of cautioning that I have. Some will borrow money, some borrow from the week they are elected into the National Assembly, and they take loans. I mean, if you have been elected into the House, bankers will come to you and offer you a N200 to N300 million loan, and then you will find out that all the entire tenure you’re serving and there’s nothing left.
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PT: Did you take any of those loans?
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Mr Adeogun: I didn’t have a need for it. I mean, when I was approached by bankers, I told them I had more financial intelligence than people who were approaching me. I had better things to do with money and then I had excess naira and I was looking to invest and not to take loans.
PT: So if you look at what you just told us, on average, you got about N9 million monthly, that’s perhaps what all the teachers in your community together earn in a month. Don’t you think it’d be better, for example, for lawmakers to be paid like teachers? Everybody knows……
Mr Adeogun: If we can make the cost of getting elected as a lawmaker, as cheap as getting employed as a teacher, if people don’t have to invest in becoming a lawmaker, then you can. You see, in business this is simple. There must be risks and returns. Nobody’s gonna get elected and spend N300 million to earn N10 million. And I can assure you, nobody would agree to be a legislator if all they have to do is earn nothing and throw money away. It would be like throwing money down the drain. People wouldn’t do it and you won’t get the best. We’re looking to get the best out of us to go into public office. We need to encourage them. I recall there was something that happened, I think it was the Obasanjo government. How did he get Okonjo-Iweala? How did he get El-Rufai? He got a lot of people that they were paid in dollars. Why? Because he felt like these were the best of us, we needed to entice them. We need to do the same thing if we are trying to get the best into the National Assembly and offices. Entice them with the right wages. Take away corruption, you must entice them with the right wages, with the right resources to make what you’re asking them to do commensurate with the service they’ll render. If you ask someone to come and earn N10; if he knows that he’d be investing more than N10, he will be looking for other means to make up and that’s where corruption comes in.
PT: But do you feel that despite this money paid to the members of the National Assembly, we have our best as legislators?
Mr Adeogun: Okay, you need to understand how Parliament works in other places because the first thing for us to know is that democracy is borrowed and we must learn from the places where it was borrowed. In the United States, for instance, legislators, the reason they have unlimited tenure is for them to acquire experience. If you come into any legislative assembly, you’re going to spend the first two years learning the ropes because it takes a while to understand the rudiments of lawmaking. Now with the Nigerian system, you use two years to learn, you use one year to get the job done and then the next year to contest an election, which means you practically have official legislators for one year, which is the reason we should as a rule encourage longevity. I mean, the present chief of staff to the President was effective. Why? He spent about 20 years, he had time to learn, he cruised through the process, and he became a master. That’s what we should do. People grew with it. I mean, somebody was having a good laugh and said a former prime minister (of Britain) is going to become a foreign secretary. Why? Because in the United Kingdom, you cannot be a prime minister if you’re not a member of parliament, and when you leave, you can still remain a member of parliament because the experience is vital. There is a need to build the experience. It’s not just about getting away from the street. But unfortunately, you know, the way the political parties in Nigeria are run does not create efficiency. A lot of things are done at the whims and caprices of the leaders. If you become governor, you suddenly become the god of your state. And if you decide that you don’t like this person, you look for someone who’s not so smart to take the place. So people are not allowed to assess the capacity of their elected, it is rather what the leaders want. So it’s, you know, those are the processes we need to change to start creating efficiency, getting people to learn. You can’t become the managing director of a bank overnight. You learn through the ropes, you go through several departments.