USA Africa Dialogue Series - Each Nigeria National Assembly Lawmaker in Abuja Earns N290m (~$2M USD) yearly, reveals ex-Rep

Each lawmaker in Abuja earns N290m (~$2M USD) yearly, reveals ex-Rep

From Adamu Abuh (Kano) and Chido Okafor (Warri)

A FORMER Minority Leader in the House of Representatives and current National Chairman, Peoples Salvation Party (PSP), Junaid Mohammed, has disclosed that each member of the National Assembly earns N290 million yearly.

Mohammed, who spoke with The Guardian in Kano at the weekend, stressed that the situation was a huge drag on the country's quest for development.

He canvassed a prompt and drastic cut on the lawmakers' pay.

His words: "Do you know that it costs tax-payers N290 million yearly to maintain each member of our National Assembly in a country where 80 per cent of the population earns below N300 a day?

"A working day earning of a senator in Nigeria is more than the yearly income of a doctor; it is more than the salaries of 42 Army generals or 48 professors or 70 commissioners of police or twice more than the pay of the U.S. president or 9 times the salary of a U.S. congressman. We have to say no to the looting of Nigeria in the name of democracy".

On the way out, Mohammed said: "We can have part-time legislators who will earn part-time salaries. The U.S. is not the only presidential system; we have the presidential system in France and so many other countries and the legislators there don't earn this kind of salary. In most countries of the world, legislators don't fix their own salaries as there is an independent body which does that".

Meanwhile, the Kano State-based Democratic Action Group (DAG) has commended the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Lamido Sanusi, for standing his ground against the National Assembly in spite of alleged threats to victimise him by the lawmakers over his recent disclosure that the latter have appropriated 25 per cent of federal recurrent expenditure to themselves.

The group pledged to organise a nationwide protest if the National Assembly took any punitive measures against the CBN governor.

Executive Director, DAG, Muhammad Mustapha, told the media in Kano: "We all know that it is immoral for people to appropriate money for themselves as our lawmakers are doing in Abuja.  People who will look at them in the eye and tell them the naked truth like Lamido Sanusi did are rare. We treasure his stance and we would give him all the support he needs".

Also, a former governorship aspirant in Delta State, Mr. Sunny Onuesoke, has called for the immediate probe of the National Assembly members over the 25.1 per cent expenditure claim.

Onuesoke said: "How can members of the National Assembly who are less than 1,000 appropriate 25.1 per cent of the Federal Government overhead cost to themselves? This shows that they are just there to amass wealth for themselves and not for the interest of the country".