Reps receive N17m each
•Two months gone, no bill passed
The nation may have spent about
N12, 967, 600,000 in two months to maintain National Assembly members, who were
inaugurated on June 9, it has been learnt.
The 109 senators got N36.4
million each; the 360 members of the House of Representatives received N25
million each.
The Senators and the
representatives were first paid N10milion each
in June to ‘cushion’ the difficulty of settling down in Abuja.
The amount, which was to cover
their expenses on housing, transport
and furniture, cost the public about N4.6billion.
Last month under a pro-rata
arrangement for quarterly allowance covering June, Senators got N13. 4 million
each and representatives, N7million each.
Since their inauguration, the
legislators have gone on recess three times. Before going on break last
Thursday, Senators got N13 million each and representatives, N8 million. They
have yet to pass a bill since they began sitting in June.
Their inauguration was followed
by the controversial emergence of Senators Bukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu as
Senate President and Deputy President.
Yakubu Dogara and Lasun Yusuf
were also picked as House Speaker and Deputy Speaker against the wish of their
party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Last Wednesday, senators
disagreed on the recommendation by the Finance Committee to cut their salary and allowances.
The James Manager-led committee
had recommended a 30 percent cut which, if accepted,would have saved tax payers
about N2billion yearly .
This translates to N2 million reduction from the N51 million
quarterly allowances enjoyed under the 7th Senate or about N874 million
saved from each year’s four quarterly
allowances alone.
Besides, the representatives’
reduction of their quarterly allowances from N39million to N33 million will
save the nation about N2. 1 billion, made up of N6million reduction in each
member’s allowances over four quarters.
Some Nigerians have criticised the Senators for rejecting
the pay cut proposal even after President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President
Yemi Osinbajo have resolved to slash their salary by 50 per cent.
YEAR 2011 – 2014
SENATE N51millio
HOUSE OF REPS N39million
YEAR 2015
SENATE N49million
HOUSE OF REPS N33million
After a two-hour closed door
meeting on Wednesday, Senate President
Bukola Saraki announced that the Manager committee’s report
aimed at
reducing salary and allowances,
would be stood down. The report, he added, would debated on later date.
Following public criticism over
the yearly N150billion budget being enjoyed by the National Assembly over the
past few years, members decided to
reduce their 2015 budget by N30 billion, to N120billion.
EFCC
The Nation learnt that many
Senators and representatives have signed documents that could make them
vulnerable to inquiry by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
and other anti-corruption bodies.
According to sources, just like
their predecessors, the lawmakers had circulated a template used to ‘account’
for their multi-million Naira allowances.
The template only requires the
gathering of receipts to render an account of expenditure and it is basically
given as follows:
SENATE TEMPLATE FOR JULY 2015
ALLOWANCES
(See Attached)
2015 HOUSE OF REPS’ 2NDQUARTER
PAYMENT (JULY 2015)
(See Attached)
Transparency: citizens have right to know,CICLAC claims
The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre
(CISLAC) hold the view that Nigerians have a right to know how legislators are
spending tax payers’ money.
Speaking with The Nation,
CISLAC’s Executive Director, Mr. Auwal Ibrahim Musa asserted that his
organisation and other civil society organisations had long been urging the
National Assembly to bring in more transparency into its affairs.
His words: “At CISLAC, we have
done some work on the cost of governance and the need for members of the
National Assembly to have a more responsive budget, based on the reality of the
economy.
“We also want the National
Assembly to open up on its budget so that Nigerians will appreciate what they
are really doing because a lot of people do not understand why the National
Assembly should be having such kinds of monies while the National Assembly
members are not helping matters by clarifying things or enlightening citizens.
“Rather, they sometimes get angry
over calls for more transparency in their accounts and this is not the best way
to communicate with the public. These are public funds!
“Instead of them to exercise
patience and act with understanding so that Nigerians can appreciate the
representation they give, they sometimes get angry and try to dismiss people as
if it is their personal money.
“I think there is poor
communication from the National Assembly and this is not helping them and it is
not helping the nation. They need to explain because they are in charge of the
nation’s appropriations. If they want others to be transparent and also subject
their own budget to National Assembly’s oversight, they must be able to account
for what they are doing.
“As it is now, unfortunately the
National Assembly is not accountable to anybody; it is supposed to be
accountable to the electorate but it is not accountable to anybody. Many of
them do not even go their constituencies for constituents to ask questions. Yet
sometimes, when people speculate, they just get angry.
“If you don’t want people to
speculate, you need to create a platform where you can share information on
what you are doing. Your going into public office is not a private thing,
especially when public funds are involved.”
Credit: The Nation
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