The heightened interest in the salaries and allowances of Nigerian lawmakers is quite understandable. The country is going through enormous hardship which had prompted nationwide protests between August 1 and 10, 2024. Amid these protests and lamentations about the hunger and acute poverty in the land, former President Olusegun Obasanjo accused members of the National Assembly of corruption and fixing of their salaries. He described the situation as immoral.
Speaking recently when he hosted some members of the House of Representatives in Abeokuta, Ogun State, the ex-President told the legislators that they were not supposed to fix their salaries or allowances. “It is supposed to be done by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) but you decide what you pay yourselves, the allowances that you give yourselves – newspaper allowances, pant allowances – you give yourself all sorts of things. With due respect, you know it is not right,” Obasanjo said. He added that the executive, in some cases, gave the lawmakers what they were not entitled to, saying they all got N200 million.
A few days after Obasanjo’s allegation, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Sports, Senator Kawu Sumaila, who represents Kano South in the Senate, said each Senator got N21 million monthly as running cost outside the monthly salary of about N1 million.
Former Senator Shehu Sani who represented Kaduna Central in the 8th Senate, had made similar allegations. In 2018, he said he and his colleagues received N13.5 million monthly as running costs. This was outside their monthly salary and allowances of N750,000 each.
The Senate has denied the allegations. According to the red chamber, its members receive only the salaries and allowances fixed by the RMAFC. It said it never allocated new salaries and allowances for senators and that they didn’t receive any incentives from the presidency as former President Obasanjo alleged. Senate spokesperson, Yemi Adaramodu, said the Senate only received the salary allocated constitutionally by the RMAFC. He actually challenged whoever had contrary fact to come forth with it.
The Chairman of the RMAFC, Muhammed Shehu, explained that each Senator collected a total monthly salary and allowances of N1,063,860. The basic salary is N168,866.70 while the rest are motor vehicle fuelling and maintenance allowance, personal assistant allowance, domestic staff allowance, wardrobe allowance, among others.
From every indication, the major issue here has to do with the ‘running cost.’ According to the Senate spokesperson, all arms of government and their personnel run their activities with running costs and that the National Assembly would not be different. He said the money Senator Sumaila referred to was neither his salary nor personal allowance but for the daily running of offices by senators and other attached statutory officials. “It’s also for oversight functions and community engagements,” Adaramodu added. The funds, he said, were meant to be retired by relevant officers after being used for official purposes and proof of genuine expenditure.
Are these ‘running costs’ truly being retired as Senator Adaramodu indicated? Does it mean that Senators Sani and Sumaila are ignorant of the true purpose of the ‘running cost’ before they revealed that it is part of their take-home pay? Has any of these two senators ever accounted for the nebulous fund? The RMAFC said only the National Assembly Service Commission could provide details of the running costs for senators. It is important that full explanation is made on this issue to douse suspicion and opacity associated with the take-home pay of the lawmakers.
Constituency project is avenue through which money is frittered away by the members of the National Assembly. Senate spokesperson claims, though, that the constituency projects funds were for projects and not for legislators’ personal use. The lawmakers reportedly nominate the constituency projects but the relevant government agencies and ministries handle contracting and payments.
We feel the explanation of the Senate leadership on the sundry funds is not satisfactory. The National Assembly should listen to patriots like Obasanjo, Sani, Sumaila and some others and adjust their remuneration instead of antagonizing them. The remuneration of the lawmakers should reflect the reality of the Nigerian situation.
Our lawmakers should concern themselves more with making good laws that will enhance good governance and national development. They should restrict themselves to their statutory salaries and allowances as fixed by the RMAFC and stop dipping hands in opaque funds, be it constituency project funds or running costs.
Due to the jumbo pay of the lawmakers and some other frivolous expenses, some Nigerians have called for a unicameral and part-time legislature. Like other Nigerians, members of the National Assembly and officials of other arms of government should tighten their belts and reduce the costs of governance. It is the most honourable thing to do now.