As controversy continued to trail the actual take-home pay of federal lawmakers in the face of the nation’s economic realities and the secrecy surrounding the monthly package, more facts have continued to emerge.
This is against the backdrop of the recent revelation by former President Olusegun Obasanjo that members of the National Assembly fix bogus salaries and allowances for themselves in contravention of extant laws.
A member of the 10th Senate and Senator representing Kano South senatorial district of Kano State on the platform of New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Abdurrahman Kawu Sumaila, has reacted to the controversy, revealing that he earns a cumulative N21million monthly in salary and allowances.
The lawmaker, in a chat with the BBC Hausa Service on Wednesday morning, monitored by our correspondent, however, claimed that the official pay package was fixed by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) – the body empowered by law to fix salaries and allowances of political office-holders.
“My monthly salary is less than N1million. After deductions, the figure comes down to a little over N600,000,” Senator Sumaila said.
He, however, added that: “Given the increase effected, in the Senate, each Senator gets N21million every month as running cost.”
However, there is no end in sight to the controversy as the revelations of the Kano South Senator were at variance with the position of RMAFC.
RMAFC on Tuesday, revealed that each member of the Senate collects a total monthly salary and allowances of the sum of N1,063,860.
The breakdown of the cumulative take-home pay, according to the commission, include; basic salary of N168,866:70; motor vehicle fuelling and maintenance allowance of N126,650; N42,216:66 for personal assistant; domestic staff – N126,650:00; entertainment – N50,660:00; utilities – N50,660; newspapers/periodicals – N25,330:00; Wardrobe allowance – N42,216,66:00; house maintenance – N8,443.33 and constituency allowance – N422,166:66; respectively.
Chairman of RMAFC, Muhammed Bello Shehu, made the disclosure in a reaction to the controversy surrounding the actual salaries and allowances payable to members of the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Recall that former President Obasanjo had a few days ago alleged that the federal lawmakers determine their monthly salaries and allowances contrary to extant laws. Also, a one-time Senator of Kaduna Central in the 8th Senate, Shehu Sani, had once publicly disclosed that each Senator collects monthly running cost of N13.5m in addition to the monthly.
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