The controversy over the monthly salary of a
Nigerian lawmaker has finally been laid to rest
with a formal disclosure of what the legislators
earn. The National Institute of Legislative Studies,
NILS, apparently worried by growing public outcry
against the Nigerian lawmakers, on Friday
released a set of documents, showing what
constitutes the earnings of the 109 Senators and
360 members of the Nigerian House of
Representatives.
The documents, which were made available to
Vanguard in Abuja on Friday, indicated that the
Nigerian lawmakers earn perhaps one of the least
salaries among legislators in the world, as against
the notion that their pay was outrageous.
Apart from releasing global comparative figures
drawn from nine countries, the NILS also gave a
breakdown of what constitutes the monthly take-
home pay of each Nigerian lawmaker. The figure
shows that while a Nigerian Senator gets an annual
basic salary of N2,026,400,00 a member of the
Nigerian House of Representatives goes home
with N1,985,212, 50 per year.
But beyond that a Senator takes home a bouquet
of allowances which hike their salary to N12, 902,
360.00 while their House of Representatives
counterpart goes home with N9,525,985.50
annually.
Thus, for the four-year tenure which the lawmaker
stay in the NASS, the Nigerian government spends
a total of N1, 406,357,240.00 as basic salary on
the 109 Senators and N3,428,994,780.00 on the
360 members of the House of Representatives.
The breakdown of the allowances are on: Vehicle
fuelling/maintenance, Constituency, Domestic
Staff, Personal Assistant, Entertainment, Recess,
Utilities, Newspaper/Periodicals, Houses
Maintenance, Wardrobe, Estacode, Duty Tour,
which attract more money available to the
lawmakers than their basic salaries.
Beyond that, the lawmakers earn special amount
in every four-year period on Accommodation,
vehicle loan, furniture, and severance allowance,
which make every Senator to pocket
N24,090,000.00 and a House of Representatives
member to go home with N23,822,00.00 within
the same period.
Thus for every four year which a lawmaker stays in
the NASS, the Federal Government spends
N2,625, 810,000.00 on accommodation, vehicle
loans, furniture and severance gratuity on the 109
senators and N8,575,920,000.00 on the 360 House
of Representatives members.
This payment brings the total expenditure of the
government to N33, 992, 360 for the senators and
N33,347, 985, 50 on the members of the HoR. The
figures are lower when compared to what their
counterparts in eight other countries earn.
But the monies Nigerian lawmakers earn from
their oversight functions and other sources make
them big earners.
A global comparison released by the NILS shows
that lawmakers in the Philippines earn the highest
annual basic salary of $4, 497,957, followed by
their counterparts in the United States of America
where a Senator goes home with $3,409,422 while
a member of the US House of Representatives
takes $1,429,909 home annually.
This is followed by lawmakers in Kenya who earn
$968,013 per annum followed by their
counterparts in Australia who take home $646,230
while those in the United Kingdom go home with
£494,285.43.
The list is followed by lawmakers from India, who
earn $474,484, Singapore with $253,469, and
Tanzania with $230,961.
It will be recalled that the Nigerian government
has been spending a total of N150 billion per year
on the NASS but has been forced to step it down
to N120 billion this year following rising outcry
that the lawmakers are taking too much from the
Federation Account leaving little for other sectors.
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