Senate President Ahmad Lawan has revealed that members of the National Assembly receive N17bn annually as running costs.
This covers the costs of their local/international travel, consultancy services, medical services, office stationery/computers, consumables, books, newspapers, magazines, maintenance of motor vehicles and office equipment, among others.
He disclosed this in Abuja Monday at a ‘Distinguished Parliamentarians’ Lecture Series’ facilitated by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies.
“The quarterly office allowance for legislators is what is erroneously conflated with a monthly income to create confusion and mislead the Nigerian people.
“The average office running cost for a senator is about N13 million; while that of a member of the House of Representatives is N8 million.”
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The N13m office running cost for a senator amounts to N52m a year; while the N8m for a member of the House of Representatives amounts to N32m a year.
In all, the 109 senators and 360 house members receive annually N5.6 billion and N11.5bn respectively as office running cost, totaling N17bn yearly.
Lawan, however, said the office running cost of the federal lawmakers was the lowest of any presidential democracy in the world.
He also said: “The total salary of a member of the Senate is about N1.5 million and that of the House of Representatives is about N1.3 million.
He described the current National Assembly as the most successful in law making since the return to civil rule in 1999.
“We have broken many ‘jinxes’ and done many ‘firsts,’ overcoming traditional obstacles through consensus building and clever political brinkmanship,” Lawan said.
via: Information Nigeria
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