In the last parliament, lawmakers were heavily criticised for their excessive salaries and allowances as the National Assembly was said to cost as much as 3% of Nigeria's gross domestic product. It has been expected that in these austere times and with President Muhammadu Buhari's clampdown on profligacy, the National assembly would show more restraint but yesterday, lawmakers awarded themselves large remuneration packages.
This new figure of N9bn will cover accommodation, furniture and vehicle allowances for both chambers of the National Assembly and will be disbursed to legislators next week. He added that when calculated, each senator would earn about N16.5m while a member of the House of Representatives would collect about N14.5 per cent each.
“A senator earns about N2m basic salary per month while the basic monthly salary of a member of the House of Representatives is about N1.8m. What the management usually do is to deduct upfront, 300% as housing allowance, 300% as vehicle allowance and 250% as furniture allowance.
“A senator, for instance, will collect N6m as accommodation allowance, N6m as vehicle allowance and N4.5m as furniture allowance,” the source added.
He pointed out that the money would be paid directly into their individual bank accounts latest by next week. In addition, he added that other entitlements such as wardrobe allowances had been calculated and would be paid along with the other enumerated ones.
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