Lawmakers of
the House of Representatives have declined requests to disclose their salaries
and running cost.
Most members of the House of
Representatives expressed fury when TheCable contacted them over the issue.
Recently, Shehu Sani, senator
representing Kaduna central, disclosed that apart from the basic monthly salary
of N750,000, each senator gets N13.5 million as “running cost”.
Sabi Abdullahi, spokesman of the
senate later confirmed his claim, adding that “almost all holders of elective
and appointive offices have running costs allocated to their offices and that
cannot be said to be part of their salaries”.
Abdulrazak Namdas, spokesman of
the lower legislative chamber, refused to clarify what his counterpart at the
senate said.
“Democracy is not only about
lawmakers… why should I disclose what I earn as a lawmaker,” Namdas said.
“I’m not talking about the
running cost of lawmakers. I can’t talk on that for lawmakers in the house of
representatives because we have done that before. Why should I disclose it? If
you think it is a public information, then go to the Revenue Mobilization
Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).
“Do you know the salary of a
minister? Is he not a public official? Why are you bothering on our own?
Democracy is not about only legislators.
“I cannot say this is what I earn
because you don’t know the salary of a minister, and they are public officials
too. But if a member of the House of Representatives says he earns this amount,
then I can clarify.”
When told that the public is
interested in knowing the earning of the lawmakers, he said: “If people are asking
questions, let them be asking. It is natural for them to ask questions.
“The people don’t want to know
about legislators alone. They also want to know about the executive and
judiciary. So, why are you only asking the legislators?”
Jerry Alagboso, a Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) lawmaker from Imo state, claimed feigned ignorance of
his earnings.
Asked to give details of the
earnings of lawmakers in the lower legislative chamber, he said: “I don’t know
anything about that (the earnings).”
When probed further, the lawmaker
fired back in anger: “Why do you have to ask me about that? Go and meet the
clerk of the national assembly.”
He ended the conversation
abruptly.
In his response, Abubakar Garba,
an All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker from Adamawa, said “I am not
supposed to talk about that.”
Aina Akinola, also a PDP
lawmaker, from Ekiti state, directed TheCable to Namdas — “he (Namdas) is the
image maker of the house. Go and talk to Namdas. He is the person you should
talk to.”
Efforts made to get the reaction
of Mohammed Sani-Omolori, clerk of the national assembly, on the matter was
unsuccessful as he was unavailable when we paid a visit to his office.
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Can you image, the securities guards guarding the country were left hungrily with poor salaries, and the so-called lawmakers cannot make a move to put smile on their face, they are busy on how they Will be back into the office. But one day everybody will give account of his/her deeds.
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