N30million Constituency Allowance Explained By Senator Femi Ojudu.

                                Sentor Ojudu (In Denim)And the Deputs Governor Ekiti(Female)

A Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Ojudu represents Ekiti Central District and was elected on the platform of Action Congress of Nigeria and in this interview he explains some misconception about their take home pay....Very interesting read.

  There are speculations that Senators earn N40 million quarterly as constituency allowance. Is this true?

Babafemi Ojudu: No, that is not true. There is nothing like constituency allowance. I have been telling people this all along. There is nothing like that in the National Assembly.

  Is there a bulk amount you collect every month to maintain your constituency office and aides?

OJUDU: What they say is bulk amount is not given to you as a Senator. How it operates is this: if a Senator goes on oversight function, when he returns, he can access the fund and get a refund of what he spent on the trip – hotel, tickets and other expenses. Salaries of the five allowed aides are also paid from the fund.

What I am trying to clarify is this: apart from your monthly salary, is there any money you collect quarterly as running expenses?

OJUDU: That is what I have just explained. We don’t collect it in bulk. The fund is there for your operation and as you spend, you get refunds

  How much is the money?

I think each Senator has access to about N30 million quarterly. But get it right, it is not that you will just collect N30 million cash every quarter. Once you go on operation, you retire and get refund from the money, up to a maximum of N30 million per quarter. It is not also about constituency management.

  So, what is this N30 million called?

OJUDU: It is called running expenses. You maintain your office, staff, internet and things like that. Sometimes, you will have to travel for conference or whatever; you draw from this fund to a maximum of N30 million per quarter.

  So, it is not that they will just give N30 million cash every quarter to every Senator?

OJUDU: No, no, no. Definitely not. That information is wrong. The thing about this is that people just look at this money, without looking at the responsibilities of a lawmaker. Now, I am going from Lagos to Ado-Ekiti with a retinue of 10 people. We are going to receive officials of the ministry of tourism. I am going to feed the 10 aides, fuel the vehicles. From there, I will go to Abuja for another official function. I am not justifying it. I am only saying that people only look at the figures without looking at the responsibilities. This morning, when I woke, my phone was filled with text messages. By the time I get to Ado, I will meet not less than 100 people waiting for me in the house for one financial assistance or the other. They are all waiting for money. People make all kinds of funny financial requests. One day, I was in the house and somebody came to me and requested that I should help him pay the rent of his office in Lagos. I was wondering how this could be part of what we were elected to do.

A colleague of mine died about a month ago. A week before his death, we were together at a function in Lagos and he kept complaining about the financial pressure on him. He said to keep himself safe, he had to hire 12 policemen, each of them taking N100,000 per month with three meals. When he is at home, there will be about 200 people waiting for him for one assistance or the other. And I said, ‘look, take it easy. If you die, somebody else will jump into that seat.’ Do you know that he slumped and died barely four days after our discussion? The financial pressure is too much.

You get invitation for things like house-roofing. You have to pay school and hospital bills for so many people. I always tell my colleagues that we should come together and fashion out a way to take care of our people collectively, to reduce the pressure on us. All the money you claim we receive is returned to the people. Last December, I had to borrow money to buy 200 bags of rice. We have to sit down with the executive and fashion out a way to reduce poverty in the country. We are doing most of the jobs the executive should be doing. Can you go to an American senator and ask for cash? He would be wondering if you are crazy. Here, people don’t have access to governors. People can come to my house any time of the day. All we do everyday is go to the bank, collect cash and share to people.

  How much is the take-home of a senator after all deductions?

OJUDU: It is about N1 million.



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