Senate Spokesman Yemi Adaramodu warned on Friday that shifting lawmakers in both legislative chambers from full-time to part-time roles could threaten Nigeria’s democracy. “If the parliament is on part-time, then it means democracy is on part-time,” he said on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme. “There is no democracy that derides its parliament and thrives.” He argued that the parliament is the bastion and fulcrum of democracy and no level of cost-cutting should affect the allocations that go to lawmakers. The All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker representing Ekiti South Senatorial District said beyond law-making and oversight functions on the executive, the 109 Senators in the Senate and the 360 members of the House of Representatives shoulder the responsibilities of their constituents. He said, “The Nigerian parliament is not only for lawmaking; we do oversight function. We advocate for our constituents. “It will just be bewildering that even out of the three arms of government that we have in Nigeria, it is only the parliament and parliamentarians that our people have access to. Like me and others. “We go home almost every time and we are the ones when they give birth to a new baby, they ask for naming ceremony funds. When they are building a new house, it is from us they ask for assistance. “So, if the parliament was not there, who do you expect that our constituents would run to? The parliament is not just to sit down at the plenary and make laws alone. And when we make laws, we follow it up.”