The controversy over the monthly salary of a Nigerian lawmaker has finally been laid to rest with a formal disclosure of what the legislators earn. The National Institute of Legislative Studies, NILS, apparently worried by growing public outcry against the Nigerian lawmakers, on Friday released a set of documents, showing what constitutes the earnings of the 109 Senators and 360 members of the Nigerian House of Representatives.
The documents, which were made available to Vanguard in Abuja on Friday, indicated that the Nigerian lawmakers earn perhaps one of the least salaries among legislators in the world, as against the notion that their pay was outrageous.
Apart from releasing global comparative figures drawn from nine countries, the NILS also gave a breakdown of what constitutes the monthly take-home pay of each Nigerian lawmaker. The figure shows that while a Nigerian Senator gets an annual basic salary of N2,026,400,00 a member of the Nigerian House of Representatives goes home with N1,985,212, 50 per year.
But beyond that a Senator takes home a bouquet of allowances which hike their salary to N12, 902, 360.00 while their House of Representatives counterpart goes home with N9,525,985.50 annually.
Thus, for the four-year tenure which the lawmaker stay in the NASS, the Nigerian government spends a total of N1, 406,357,240.00 as basic salary on the 109 Senators and N3,428,994,780.00 on the 360 members of the House of Representatives.
The breakdown of the allowances are on: Vehicle fuelling/maintenance, Constituency, Domestic Staff, Personal Assistant, Entertainment, Recess, Utilities, Newspaper/Periodicals, Houses Maintenance, Wardrobe, Estacode, Duty Tour, which attract more money available to the lawmakers than their basic salaries.
Beyond that, the lawmakers earn special amount in every four-year period on Accommodation, vehicle loan, furniture, and severance allowance, which make every Senator to pocket N24,090,000.00 and a House of Representatives member to go home with N23,822,00.00 within the same period.
Thus for every four year which a lawmaker stays in the NASS, the Federal Government spends N2,625, 810,000.00 on accommodation, vehicle loans, furniture and severance gratuity on the 109 senators and N8,575,920,000.00 on the 360 House of Representatives members.
This payment brings the total expenditure of the government to N33, 992, 360 for the senators and N33,347, 985, 50 on the members of the HoR. The figures are lower when compared to what their counterparts in eight other countries earn.
But the monies Nigerian lawmakers earn from their oversight functions and other sources make them big earners.
A global comparison released by the NILS shows that lawmakers in the Philippines earn the highest annual basic salary of $4, 497,957, followed by their counterparts in the United States of America where a Senator goes home with $3,409,422 while a member of the US House of Representatives takes $1,429,909 home annually.
This is followed by lawmakers in Kenya who earn $968,013 per annum followed by their counterparts in Australia who take home $646,230 while those in the United Kingdom go home with £494,285.43.
The list is followed by lawmakers from India, who earn $474,484, Singapore with $253,469, and Tanzania with $230,961.
It will be recalled that the Nigerian government has been spending a total of N150 billion per year on the NASS but has been forced to step it down to N120 billion this year following rising outcry that the lawmakers are taking too much from the Federation Account leaving little for other sectors.
vanguard report
It is still on the high side. Many of our legislators are not poor men and women. They ought to sacrifice those allowances or convert them to bursaries or rural projects for their constituencies....... serving the nation is a much bigger honour than the money..... we are going through tough times......we need to get over the oil hangover.
ReplyDeleteIt should be a voluntary and pro bono service. After all, the name that goes with it opens doors. ~ Blunt Truth
DeleteYou are just clueless. So I should work without pay even as I spent about 300m to win election? Let's be real abeg. No be only pro bono. Voluntary??? My kids should feed on your shit or what. You that you just said this nonsense how many people do you know that are willing to do even half of this for free??? Can you do it for free??? Even your president that is entitled to 23m didn't say they should keep it all, he still collects 3m monthly for a position he held before I was born. Abeg make we dey use brain small small
DeleteGo to the uk and ask about the scandal a few years ago where mp expenses were revealed. The greatest scam of this voluntary work was that they were allowed to work part time so as to up their earnings. They went as far as Consuting for firms who had interests in the country for payments. How is this positive? How can a lawmaker make decent judgements about a bill when they are under the payroll of an interested party? In resolving this issue, there had to be an upward review of their salaries as well as turning the job to a full time job. How do you caution a rep member who is footing the bill of this country? Chux e no work o. There is nothing true or blunt about your statement
DeleteYou all have seen it. In as much as nigeria is richer than a lot of countries, its legislators earn one of the lowest...onto the next matter. We have dwelled too much on this.
DeleteAnonymous without a face how else can a legislator show his/her love for motherland? When it's without pay, they'll not spend so much on campaigns. As for making it a full time job, many/most of them are stakeholders in different firms either as chairmen or board members so they already tend to influence bills to favour them.....analyse things properly before jumping into silly conclusions....we too like to import ideas without considering environments. ~ Blunt Truth
DeleteQuestion to u @Chux if you were in there would you do the same things you said above there? Please lets be realistic atyms.
DeleteWhen u want to serve you should be prepared to throw in everything....its called service to country....what about soldiers who earn peanuts and yet risk their lives for our safety
DeleteTrue though. You know its easier said than done.
DeleteWhy are they comparing what these people earn to what their counterparts earn in the UK,USA, Australia. The senators in these countries work for their salaries and they probably don't have up to 109 senators and 306 rep members. Cut their salaries and increase civil servants pay, or pump the money into rural development. Shikena!!!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeletePls did you read well? Philippines and Kenya are on that list. Let's all be reasonable here. All these allowances exist even in the civil service. Ask any civil servant how much their clothing allowance is they will tell you. Ask any director in any ministry if he fuels his car, he doesn't. How can you expect them to have to fuel their cars and not steal money? Today is jalingo tomorrow kafancha. If these pays are to be reviewed I am welcome to that but spewing trash that suggests these are not legitimate claims is just plain old foolish. Whether you like it or not these expenses will present themselves and I prefer the Govt paying these rather than giving these nass members legitimate reasons to steal.
DeleteThe problem is not the salary per se... my problem is are they even working??? It makes absolutely no sense for the rubbish they do... have you seen their kids the way they waste govt money that should be used to better the lives of the people... please justifying this
DeleteSee money!!!
ReplyDeleteThe problem is with us Nigerians and our Pharisee culture of "holier than though" ethnicity and NOT the law or system.
ReplyDeleteThere are enough rules, laws, legislation and/or regulations to get the society going. Even countries with unwritten constitutions operates and work well relying on conventions. But we the Nigerian people, either because we are traitors or cowards tend to "siddon look" while a very few (less than 500) cabal class rob and rape us blind of our commonwealth.
It should not matter what religion or part of the country the person comes from, if he has committed crime(s) against the people he should face the music. After all, only his/her nuclear family are beneficiaries, as the town people and tribe do not usually benefit from his crime.
Why must a few steal monies meant to build Roads, Hospitals, Schools, Libraries etc for our children and future generations???
Why can't we mobilise ourselves & invade the legislative assembly premises when they're sitting & hold them hostage till they make some drastic changes to that salaries & allowances of a thing??
Pple in civilised nations take similar course of actions & achieve results. More recently, students in Hong Kong abi where sef did so & it brought the world's attention to bear on the gov't!
Enof talk already...time to brace up for some real action kwanu!!!
Ghanaman signing out!!!
100% agree!!!
DeleteI thought u are Ghanaian.
DeleteGhanaman, u re very right. Please let us mobilize ourselves and lead the protest, we can do it. And I am totally support of what u said right now. Becos enough is enough of all this robbery our so called senators nd horn re robbery Nigerian blind every year.
DeleteGbam!
DeleteThe problem is with us Nigerians and our Pharisee culture of "holier than though" ethnicity and NOT the law or system.
ReplyDeleteThere are enough rules, laws, legislation and/or regulations to get the society going. Even countries with unwritten constitutions operates and work well relying on conventions. But we the Nigerian people, either because we are traitors or cowards tend to "siddon look" while a very few (less than 500) cabal class rob and rape us blind of our commonwealth.
It should not matter what religion or part of the country the person comes from, if he has committed crime(s) against the people he should face the music. After all, only his/her nuclear family are beneficiaries, as the town people and tribe do not usually benefit from his crime.
Why must a few steal monies meant to build Roads, Hospitals, Schools, Libraries etc for our children and future generations???
Why can't we mobilise ourselves & invade the legislative assembly premises when they're sitting & hold them hostage till they make some drastic changes to that salaries & allowances of a thing??
Pple in civilised nations take similar course of actions & achieve results. More recently, students in Hong Kong abi where sef did so & it brought the world's attention to bear on the gov't!
Enof talk already...time to brace up for some real action kwanu!!!
Ghanaman signing out!!!
I think this is reasonably fair enough
ReplyDeleteFair?? Do you get paid for not working?? Please be real.. this is the problem of Nigeria/Nigerians
DeleteThe problem is with us Nigerians and our Pharisee culture of "holier than though" ethnicity and NOT the law or system.
ReplyDeleteThere are enough rules, laws, legislation and/or regulations to get the society going. Even countries with unwritten constitutions operates and work well relying on conventions. But we the Nigerian people, either because we are traitors or cowards tend to "siddon look" while a very few (less than 500) cabal class rob and rape us blind of our commonwealth.
It should not matter what religion or part of the country the person comes from, if he has committed crime(s) against the people he should face the music. After all, only his/her nuclear family are beneficiaries, as the town people and tribe do not usually benefit from his crime.
Why must a few steal monies meant to build Roads, Hospitals, Schools, Libraries etc for our children and future generations???
Why can't we mobilise ourselves & invade the legislative assembly premises when they're sitting & hold them hostage till they make some drastic changes to that salaries & allowances of a thing??
Pple in civilised nations take similar course of actions & achieve results. More recently, students in Hong Kong abi where sef did so & it brought the world's attention to bear on the gov't!
Enof talk already...time to brace up for some real action kwanu!!!
Ghanaman signing out!!!
Seen this long ago
ReplyDeleteAnd Buhari should please bring down their salaries in order to be able to pay those who really are working their ass out for the country not some lazy,greedy pot belly politicians
ReplyDeleteI see millions and billions. .
ReplyDeleteChoi better money!!!
C money
ReplyDeleteWahahi this country is so messed up..
ReplyDeleteHaba jaman! How can the federal government be spending billions on law makers while neglecting educational sector and health sector which are the basic tools for economic growth and development . If they spend half of this dubious amount on education alone am sure people from all over the world will be running down to naija to schooland also if is invested on health it will go a long way to slash maternal and child mortality. May God punish whoever allocated such dubious amount to the lawless mofos..
Wahahi this country is so messed up..
ReplyDeleteHaba jaman! How can the federal government be spending billions on law makers while neglecting educational sector and health sector which are the basic tools for economic growth and development . If they spend half of this dubious amount on education alone am sure people from all over the world will be running down to naija to schooland also if is invested on health it will go a long way to slash maternal and child mortality. May God punish whoever allocated such dubious amount to the lawless mofos..
Sometimes I wonder how people think in dis country, I'm not a fan of government officials taking high pay. But let's ask a our self some questions? What does it cost to run an election in Nigeria. Pls find out before u start all dis ur ranting on social medial. Abj una think say all does money wen dem dey share nd salt etc wen de dey give una dem see am pick for ground. Ak was here
ReplyDeleteSo because one person decided to invest into his campaign for office, voluntarily o, now means that his priority once in office is to get back what he used or "invested" during campaign, and even more?
DeleteThis is the mindset that is putting Nigerians into trouble. Nobody asked them to borrow money to campaign for office... the country's money shouldn't be used to pay their debts or to afford them a lavish or a wasteful lifestyle to our detriment.
Buhari should make government work less attractive to selfish politicians. That way we would know who's coming to serve because they have a passion for their people, from those who want to serve because of the prestige and monies involved. Only then can the country move forward.
Please who wrote and this and gave incorrect figures? Are they trying to deduce billions, millions or thousands. So conflicting.
ReplyDeleteWow
ReplyDeleteSee money
Some allowances should be scrapped, what is fuel allowance, clothes allowance and after the giving them vehicles, we still maintain it and fuel it...total rubbish. And they are comparing themselves with foreign lawmakers, they should also compare the level of their development. We have not gotten there yet we need people that will serve for the country to get to a certain level of development, not those useless fools that will take all the monies and leave the country in hardship
ReplyDeletethis is still on the high side now,what is this?am so pissed
ReplyDeleteIies! It is very Welll documented that in the USA what the President makes and he makes less than $1 million per year so how will a senator make more than double or a house of reps either??
ReplyDelete