Ifeoma Ofili, senior National Assembly official, has accused federal legislators of widespread corruption, including taking bribes during oversight visits, manipulating legislative reports and diverting staff entitlements.
Ofili, who is a director in the House of Representatives and previously served as Clerk of the Local Content Committee, raised the allegations during a retreat hosted by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies in Abuja on June 27.
A viral recording of her address has since triggered public outrage.
Ofili’s allegations include routine acceptance of cash, hospitality, and travel perks from Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) during oversight duties—a practice she says ultimately turns oversight into cover for vice.
“How do you account for the fact that the flight ticket to go and oversight somebody was paid for that person by the agency.
“What are you coming to write? You go there, they tell you what to write, they give you money… they quarter you, they give you flight and the members will come and fight over the money… They will not give the clerk,” she said.
She added that lawmakers often bypass official clerks by hiring outside consultants to write hearing reports—even when those consultants never attended the sessions.
“We did a public hearing last year … a consultant was employed to write a report. … Then I asked the consultant, were you at the public hearing? He said ‘no.’ … I put my feet down and I told him I’m not going to work with you.”
Ofili also pulled the curtain back on chronic misuse of budgetary provisions for staff welfare.
She described how allocations for training, healthcare, sports, and books are lumped into vague budget lines and diverted by lawmakers for personal gain.
“Allowances that are constitutional … statutory allocation to National Assembly staff … they collapsed it till now.”
The cost of this mismanagement, she said, is most visible among retired staff, many of whom wait up to two years for pension or end-of-service benefits—and end up destitute.
“Our former colleagues call us … to beg for money … They look like scarecrows … standing at the junction into the National Assembly.”
Ofili lamented that even constitutionally guaranteed allowances have been “collapsed” or taken by lawmakers for themselves. “So … they themselves … chop their own, they chop our own.”
