From newspaper to wardrobe allowances, see breakdown of Nigerian Senators’ earnings
The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has stated that each of the 109 senators in the red chamber earns ₦1,063,860 in salary and allowances per month.
The commission provided a detailed breakdown of the salary and allowances for each senator as follows:
– Basic Salary: ₦168,866.70
– Motor Vehicle Fuelling and Maintenance Allowance: ₦126,650.00
– Personal Assistant: ₦42,216.66
– Domestic Staff: ₦126,650.00
– Entertainment: ₦50,660.00
– Utilities: ₦50,660.00
– Newspapers/Periodicals: ₦25,330.00
– Wardrobe: ₦42,216.66
– House Maintenance: ₦8,443.33
– Constituency Allowance: ₦422,166.66
RMAFC Chair M.B. Shehu, in a statement on Tuesday, made this clarification in response to recent comments by Mr. Shehu Sani, a former senator, who alleged that each senator collects a monthly running cost of ₦13.5 million in addition to the ₦750,000.00 prescribed by the Commission.
Shehu explained that RMAFC does not have the constitutional authority to enforce compliance with the remuneration package for lawmakers. “This issue is, however, being addressed by the National Assembly,” he said.
The RMAFC chief noted that some allowances are regular and paid monthly along with the basic salary, while others are non-regular and paid as they become due.
“For instance, Furniture Allowance (₦6,079,200.00) and Severance Gratuity (₦6,079,200.00) are paid once every tenure. Vehicle Allowance (₦8,105,600.00), which is optional, is provided as a loan that the beneficiary must repay before leaving office,” he added.
Shehu stated that, apart from the President, Vice President, Senate President, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, no other public or legislative officers are provided with housing, unlike in the past.
On Sunday, the Senate addressed former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s comments that lawmakers in both chambers of the National Assembly (NASS) set their own salaries.
Senate spokesman Yemi Adaramodu challenged anyone with credible evidence to present contrary facts, describing any suggestion that the National Assembly sets its own salaries as “uncharitable and satanic.”
Adaramodu stated that the red chamber only receives the salary allocated to it by the RMAFC in accordance with the constitution.
On Friday, Obasanjo, who served as Nigeria’s democratically elected President from May 1999 to May 2007, described it as “immoral” for federal lawmakers to set their own salaries and allowances. He suggested instead that the RMAFC should be tasked with this responsibility.
Proofreading by Uchechi Ojo, Sub-editor at Neptune Prime.
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