As the management of the National Assembly finalises plans to allocate offices to the 469 federal lawmakers ahead of their resumption next week, DGossip247 reports that the N9 billion set aside as wardrobe allowance may have set the stage for yet another leadership overview of the current parliament
Palpable anxiety heightened during the week when it was reported that the sum of N9 billion had been set aside for the payment of wardrobe allowance to both members of the Senate and those in the House of Representatives. The allowance excluded other emoluments like furniture, housing and vehicle grants. The report, which elicited public outcry, once again brought to the fore, the need for the management of the National Assembly to clarify the huge budgetary allocation for the lawmakers. There are speculations already that Nigeria’s legislators are among the highest paid in the world.
The annual salaries of a member of the parliament is said to be hovering between $150,000 and $190,000 depending on exchange rates. Before now, Nigerian lawmakers were believed to be the second highest paid in the world. That was before the oil prices plummeted. This to many, is ridiculous, considering that the country’s monthly minimum earnings is about $90 a month. However, a breakdown of the wardrobe allowance shows that each senator is entitled to N21.5 million, while Representatives receives N17.5 million each.
It was also gathered that the wardrobe allowance, like furniture and vehicle allowances, was meant for the entire four-year tenure of the lawmakers as against housing allowance that was given on yearly basis. Information in the public domain also indicated that housing allowances for political office holders would be 200 per cent of their annual salaries, furniture allowance, 300 per cent, and motor vehicle loan 400 per cent. This meant that 107 senators would be paid a total of N433, 649,600 as housing allowance annually.
The Senate President and his Deputy are excluded because they would be provided accommodation by the Federal Government. Similarly, each member of the House of Representatives will be paid N3, 970,425 as housing allowance on assumption of office. This translates to N1, 421,412,150 for the lower chamber legislature. Like in the senate, the Speaker and his Deputy are not included for the reason that the Federal Government would provide their own accommodation. It would be recalled that following the monetisation of entitlements of public officials, the lawmakers lost the right to occupy houses built and maintained by the government. Consequently, the Federal Government sold the houses previously occupied by the lawmakers to them. The principal officers of the National Assembly also benefited from the sale of the houses. As a result, the Federal Capital Territory Administration is at present building new houses for occupiers of the four principal offices at both chambers. For furniture, each of the senators is to get N6, 079,200.
The furniture for both the Senate President and his deputy are to be fully provided by the government. This meant that 107 senators would get a total of N650, 474,400 as furniture allowance. Interestingly, the furniture allowance is paid once in four years with each member of the House of Representatives been paid N5, 955,637.50 as furniture allowance.
From all accounts, it then suggests that 358 House member (excluding the speaker and his deputy) would collect a total of N2, 132,118,225 for furniture. For vehicle, each of the senators is entitled to N8, 105,600, while each House member is entitled to N7, 940,850.50. This means that 107 senators will collect N867, 299,200 for vehicles, while 358 House members will collect N2, 842,824,479 for the same purpose. While the public outcry lasted, the Chairman of Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Mr. Elias Mbam, debunked the reports that the federal lawmakers would be collectively paid almost N9 billion as wardrobe allowance. He, instead stated that the wardrobe allowance for each of the elected 469 members of the National Assembly was N506,600 annually.
Mbam, who made the clarification while on a visit to the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, said the amount represented 25 per cent of the lawmakers’ basic annual salary. Saraki confirmed this assertion when he said: “I have just been informed that RMAFC will be publishing details of allowance on their website. With the current challenge, we are facing as a nation; RMAFC will be reviewing allowance to reflect the cur-applirent economic trend.” The Senate President, while commenting on the issue in his twitter handle, denied the insinuation that the Senators’ wardrobe allowance was N21.5 million, insisting that the annual wardrobe allowance for each senator was only N506, 600 per annual.
He explained that fixing the allowances of the lawmakers was the sole responsibility of RMFAC, while stressing that the commission would soon publish details of lawmakers allowances on their website. Saraki emphasised: “RMAFC was in my office to clarify that wardrobe allowance is N506, 600 per senator. I have just been informed that it will be publishing details of allowance on their website.
With the current challenge we are facing as a nation, RMFAC will be reviewing allowance to reflect the current economic trend. Fixing remuneration is sole responsibility of RMFAC.” In like manner, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, said the salary and allowances of members of the lower chamber may soon be made public.He said this while addressing a delegation of civil society groups under the auspices of “Civil Society Situation Room,” in Abuja. The speaker, however, pledged to make the salaries and allowances of lawmakers open for public debate.
“The issue of transparency in the finances of the National Assembly has been a subject of bitter exchange between the National Assembly and CSOs. This time around, we will put it on the front burner regarding the issue of wages, salaries, allowances and the working of the parliament. It is an issue that has generated a lot of heat and we must open it up and engage CSOs. For instance, we are going to engage you on ideas about how much should a public hearing require to be aired live,” Dogara said. Dogara further asked: “If we are unable to open up the process of lawmaking, can it be truly called an effective parliament? You provide serious vigilance against tyranny and brazen impunity whether from the political class or from public and private individuals. Some think of you as meddlesome interlopers and I don’t think so. And I must say that you have done very well. In some cases, your participation has been termed as a noisy one, but the conflict of ideas and exchange must be seen to be noisy if valid argument must be made.
“Given your roles as watchdogs, we had a peaceful and credible election, which was highly acclaimed by all stakeholders. We owe you a debt of gratitude,” adding, “we have lots of overheads with agencies under the National Assembly which draw funding from our purse. It was N150 billion and now N120 billion. But even at that, we will open it up.” Irked by the huge amount budgeted for the federal lawmakers, the National Coordinator of Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), Mr. Emmanuel Onwubiko, said it’s only in a prodigal nation like Nigeria that a certain political class would be so much pampered and spoilt with official pecks and the other paraphernalia that bleeds the commonwealth of all Nigerians to a near death.
According to him, why our hard earned federally-generated financial resources should be blown away in the winds of frivolity to purchase articles of clothing for this extremely privileged class. He said: “Only in a banana republic like Nigeria where survival is for and by the brutes that such official perfidy is tolerated by the rest of the starving millions of citizens.” Another Civil Society group, under the aegis of Voice of the Voiceless-Home Best, stormed the Assembly Complex, Abuja to register their displeasure against the N9 billion wardrobe allowances.
It urged President Muhammadu Buhari to look into the issue in the interest of Nigerians. The leader the group, Comrade Oliver Ezeala, said it has become apparent that lawmakers in Nigeria are never interested in the wellbeing of Nigerians they legislate for, given their eagerness to receive such huge sum of money, just for their wardrobe allowance.
“We are not happy today and that is why we a protesting against the lawmakers who are to be paid N9 billion for being elected as legislators. The government cannot do such a thing and so we have resolved to resist it to the last.
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