Anita Ogona
The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has revealed that each of the 109 senators occupying legislative seats in the red chamber earns ₦1,063,860 salary and allowances per month.
The commission gave the breakdown of the salary and allowances of each senator as: Basic Salary – ₦168,866:70;
Motor Vehicle Fuelling and Maintenance Allowance – ₦126,650:00;
Personal Assistant – ₦42,216:66; Domestic Staff -₦126,650:00;
Entertainment – ₦50,660:00; Utilities – ₦50,660:00; Newspapers/Periodicals – ₦25,330:00; Wardrobe – ₦42,216,66:00;
House Maintenance – ₦8,443.33:00 and Constituency Allowance – ₦422,166:66; respectively.RMAFC chair M. B. Shehu, in a statement on Tuesday, made the clarification “in view of the recent statement made by Mr. Shehu Sani, a former Senator of the Federal Republic who was reported to have disclosed to the public that each Senator collects monthly running cost of ₦13.5 M in addition to the monthly ₦750, 000.00 prescribed by the Commission”.
Shehu said RMAFC does not have the constitutional powers to enforce compliance with the proper implementation of the remuneration package of lawmakers. “This lacuna is, however, being addressed by the National Assembly,” he said.
The RMAFC chief said some allowances are regular while others are non-regular. “Regular allowances are paid regularly with basic salary while non-regular allowances are paid as when due.“For instance, Furniture allowance (₦6,079,200:00) and Severance Gratuity (₦6,079,200:00) are paid once in every tenure and Vehicle allowance (₦8,105,600:00) which is optional is a loan which the beneficiary has to pay before leaving office,” he added.
Shehu said that aside from the president, vice president, senate president, and speaker of the House of Representatives, all public and legislative officers are no longer provided with housing, as was the case in the past.
The lawmaker representing Kano South senatorial district of Kano State in the National Assembly, Abdurrahman Kawu Sumaila, has revealed that Senators get ₦21 million naira monthly each as allowances and running costs.
He made the revelation in a chat with the BBC Hausa Service on Wednesday morning.
Sumaila, who was elected on the platform of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), narrated that his actual salary, as fixed by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), is less than N1m and comes down to about ₦600,000 after deductions.
The Senator, however, said the leadership of the Senate has made some increases in the take-home pay of the lawmakers, with each Senator getting up to ₦21 million in salary and allowances.
“My monthly salary is less than ₦1million. After deductions, the figure comes down to a little over ₦600,000,” Senator Sumaila said.
He, however, added that: “Given the increase effected, in the Senate, each Senator gets ₦21million every month as running cost.”
The revelation comes at a time when the controversy and secrecy over the earnings of lawmakers in Nigeria are taking the front burner of public discussions again.
Recall that former President Olusegun Obasanjo recently called out the members of the National Assembly, accusing them of fixing bogus salaries and allowances for themselves in contravention of extant laws.
Also, a one-time Senator of Kaduna Central in the 8th Senate, Shehu Sani, had once publicly disclosed that each Senator collects a monthly running cost of ₦13.5m in addition to the monthly ₦750,000 prescribed by RMAFC.
In reaction to the fresh allegation by Obasanjo, the RMAFC Chairman, Muhammed Bello Shehu, explained on Tuesday that each member of the Senate collects a total monthly salary and allowances of the sum of N1,063,860.
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