The House of Representatives on Wednesday, that complaints about the rather unflattering pay of Senators and members of the House should be referred to the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, which has the statutory job of fixing the salaries and allowances of lawmakers.
The lower house seemed to be joining their bigger brothers in this regard, the Senate having said on Tuesday that it “needed some time” to respond to louder and growing groans over the earnings of lawmakers.
According to a Punch report:
The House noted that the lawmakers’ wage was computed by the RMAFC after it considered several factors and took a decision on what should be the pay package, based on the powers conferred on it by law.
Deputy House Majority Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor, who spoke on the controversial huge pay of federal legislators said members were always amazed whenever critics attacked lawmakers over the pay package as if they fixed their own wage.
“We are tired of responding to the same issue every time; our explanations seem to be falling on deaf ears.
“We didn’t fix our salaries and allowances; that is the role of RMAFC. If you think that our salaries and allowances are too much, ask the agency to slash what they recommended,” Ogor said.
The pay of lawmakers generated public discourse again following Monday’s statement by a former Minister of Education, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, who said that the country had spent over N1.1tn on their upkeep since 2005.
Only recently, an analysis by The Economist rated Nigerian legislators the highest paid in the world, dwarfing countries like Japan, USA, Britain, Kenya and Ghana.
For example, a member of the House takes a monthly salary of between N900, 000 and N1.1m, besides a quarterly allowance of between N27.9m and N33m.
In addition, legislators receive car and furniture replacement loans and allowances every four years.
Ezekwesili had spoken at a one-day dialogue on the “cost of governance in Nigeria.”
As a way of cutting cost, many Nigerians have called for a part-time legislature, as against the current practice whereby the 360 members of the House and 109 senators sit full time.
They are paid on a monthly basis, whether they work or not.
For more on this story:
[READ: Giants of the world: Our lawmakers earn 116 times more than the average Nigerian]
[READ: N1.5 million to fuel a car?: See what your Senators and Reps ‘officially’ earn]
[READ: N1 trillion spent on National Assembly members in 8 years – Oby Ezekwesili]
[READ: “We need some time”: The Senate promises to reply Ezekwesili over #1TrillionSpeech]
[Photo H/T: YNaija]