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Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has invited Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to a roundtable over the “contentious” salaries of lawmakers, his media aide, Bamikole Omishore, has said.
Saraki’s Special Adviser on New Media, Omishore, through a statement issued yesterday, in Abuja, said the meeting would be to give more details on senators’ earnings.
The proposed parley is coming after Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay, accused Senators of collecting N29 million monthly.
Sagay also said senators should not be addressed as “distinguished” because they have no honour, vision, and integrity.
Earlier, Senate spokesperson, Sabi Abdullahi, had criticised Sagay, when he said the Federal Government lost many corruption cases due to his failure to function properly as its anti-corruption adviser.
Similarly, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), wrote Saraki and urged him to urgently explain to Nigerians, “if it is true that a senator gets N29 million in monthly pay, and over N3 billion a year.’’
Reacting to SERAP’s request, Omishore said Senate had already released budget breakdown and payslips of lawmakers and expressed surprised that some Nigerians were still not clear on the matter.
“The attention of the office of the President of the Senate has been drawn to demand for more details regarding the earnings of senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Having released the breakdown of the National Assembly budget, the most comprehensive in the history of the Nigerian Senate, it seems the release of payslips is yet to clarify earnings of Nigerian senators.
“(The) Senate President has agreed to a roundtable with SERAP and other CSOs, to enlighten them and answer genuine questions, regarding the matter.
“I will make contact with SERAP and other CSOs for a date convenient for all parties in the next few days,” Omishore said in the statement.
