OWN CORRESPONDENT, Lagos | Monday
NIGERIA’S top lawmakers take home pay and allowances worth more than $9 000 a month, most of which they have awarded themselves, in a country where most people earn less than a dollar a day.
Members of the 109-seat Senate, or upper house, and the 360-seat House of Representatives, or lower house have fought for months to stop their pay and allowances becoming public knowledge.
In Nigeria, the average per capita income is 300 dollars a year.
On Sunday, the newspaper The Guardian reported in a front-page story that the monthly salary of the lawmakers in both chambers of parliament was set at just over 350000 naira ($2920).
In addition, senators and representatives have awarded themselves monthly allowances worth more than $5 000 monthly and $3 000 quarterly, the paper said.
According to The Guardian, in addition to their salaries, Senators take home monthly allowances of 223182 naira to pay for staff, 370000 naira to pay unspecified costs and 44000 naira for telecommunications charges, adding up to a total of 637182 naira ($5309) monthly.
On top of that, Senators receive quarterly allowances of 60000 naira for car maintenance, 30000 naira for their residence telephone, 25000 naira for their constituency telephone, 20000 naira for electricity and 15000 naira for water charges.
They also receive 150000 naira for constituency visits, 20000 naira for sewage removal and 50000 for entertainment, adding up in total to another 370000 naira ($3083) quarterly, the paper said.
The allowances were believed to have been approved in a resolution passed by the members themselves over national assembly funds they control and normally kept secret, the paper said.
The government’s salary board, authorised by the 1999 constitution to set public sector wages, has recommended a cut in lawmakers’ pay but the presidency has blocked the move for now.
President Olusegun Obasanjo has strained relations with the parliament and has accused it of corruption and doing little legislative work.
Since coming into being last year, the parliament has passed just a handful of bills and been dogged by accusations of corruption and abuse of office. – AFP