The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Sports, Senator Abdurrahman Kawu Sumaila, (Kano South, NNPP), has revealed that he earns N21 million in allowances every month, in addition to his monthly salary of about N1 million.
This disclosure comes after former President Olusegun Obasanjo accused National Assembly members of fixing salaries and allowances for themselves in contravention of extant laws.
Speaking to the BBC Hausa Service on Wednesday morning, Senator Sumaila said, “My monthly salary is less than N1 million. After deductions, the figure comes down to a little over N600,000… Given the increase effected, in the Senate, each Senator gets N21 million every month as running cost.”
This revelation contradicts the statement by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission that each Senator collects a total monthly salary and allowances of N1,063,860.00. The RMAFC, which fixes salaries and allowances of public servants, gave the breakdown of the cumulative take-home pay for lawmakers to include:
– Basic salary of N168,866:70
– Motor vehicle fuelling and maintenance allowance of N126,650
– Personal assistant, N42,216:66
– Domestic staff, N126,650
– Entertainment, N50,660
– Utilities, N50,660
– Newspapers/periodicals, N25,330
– Wardrobe allowance, N42,216,66
– House maintenance, N8,443.33
– Constituency allowance, N422,166:66
RMAFC Chairman, Muhammed Bello Shehu, said, “A closer look at the monthly entitlement of Senators reveals that each Senator collects a monthly salary and allowances of the sum of N1,063,860:00… Except a few political and public office holders such as the President, Vice President, Senate President, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, among others, all public and legislative officers are no longer provided with housing as was the case in the past.”
Shehu noted that some allowances are regular while others are non-regular, explaining that regular allowances are paid regularly with a basic salary while non-regular allowances are paid as of when due. He gave examples of non-regular allowances, including furniture allowance (N6,079,200 million) and severance gratuity (N6,079,200 million), which are paid once in every tenure, and vehicle allowance (N8,105,600 million), which is optional and a loan that the beneficiary has to pay before leaving office.
Shehu lamented that RMAFC does not have constitutional powers to enforce compliance with proper implementation of the official remuneration package, a lacuna he said was being addressed by the National Assembly. He urged Nigerians and any other interested party to access the actual details of the present Remuneration package for Political, Public and Judicial Office holders in Nigeria published on the RMAFC website.
Former President Obasanjo had accused National Assembly members of fixing bogus salaries and allowances for themselves, saying, “In your case, with all due respect, you’re not supposed to fix your salaries. But you decide what you pay yourself, the allowances that you give yourselves… You give yourselves all sorts of things, and you know it is not right. It is immoral. You are doing it, the Senate is doing it, and you are beating your chests about it… In some cases, the executive gives you what you’re not entitled to. You all got N200 million.”
Senator Shehu Sani, Kaduna Central, had previously disclosed that each Senator collects monthly running cost of N13.5 million in addition to the monthly N750,000 prescribed by the RMAFC.
