Nigerian senators earn more than Trump, UK PM
The Initiator and Chairman, Movement for
Nigeria’s Total Transformation, Chief Areoye Oyebola, has decried the
non-responsiveness of Nigerian federal lawmakers to the widespread call
for the downward review of their “monumental salaries and allowances.”
According to Oyebola, the recent
criticism of the federal legislators by the Chairman of the Presidential
Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), was just
one of many criticisms that had trailed the lawmakers over the years
but to which they had turned deaf ears.
He recalled that he had raised the same
issue in a publication, tagged, “Grave Issues Nigeria Must Tackle,”
which was publicly presented at a gathering that had in attendance
eminent Nigerians such as a former Lagos State Governor, Babatunde
Fashola(SAN); human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN); and Prof. Pat
Utomi.
Oyebola had, in the presentation,
decried what he described as the insensitivity of the lawmakers, who he
said, were living large in the midst of widespread poverty in the
country.
He noted then that the earnings of the
United States of America’s President were far lower than what a Nigerian
lawmaker took home.
He had said, “It is also strange,
unthinkable and very disheartening that a senator, not minding the
grinding poverty of Nigerians, earns $1.7m a year, which is far higher
than the $400,000 yearly income of the United States’ President, whose
stupendous country is the richest in the world. Even a member of the
House of Representatives also earns more than the American President.
What a tragic and pathetic situation!
“Worse still, each of our National
Assembly members earns more than the British Prime Minister, while the
pay of a member of Ghana’s unicameral legislature is a very small
fraction of our House of Representatives’ member jumbo pay of more than
N10m in a month, let alone the monumental quarterly allowances that have
led to serious public outcry.
“The multi-million naira earned by the
leadership of the Senate and the House of Representatives even worse,
more outrageous and mind-boggling.”
Oyebola noted that despite their modest
pay, compared to the Nigerian federal lawmakers, the legislators in
Ghana worked harder and “have minimal absenteeism,” while they had also
done much to sustain their country’s democracy, “which is a model for
many African countries.”
He said the Ghanaian lawmakers were also
more sensitive to the realities in their country, recalling that an
attempt by them to have a raise in earnings in 2009 was immediately
jettisoned following a public outcry.
Oyebola called for a 90 per cent cut in
the earnings of Nigerian elected public officials, saying with that they
would still be richer than their counterparts in the US and the UK.
He said, “As suggested below, for the
National Assembly, the President, ministers, state governors, state
legislators, chairmen of local governments and councillors should have
their pay and allowances reduced to 10 per cent of their present
earnings. If effected, each senator’s present earnings of N15m a month
will be reduced to N1.5m or N18m a year. A similar 90 per cent reduction
should be effected from the pay of members of the House of
Representatives.”
According to him, this is the only way to ensure that politics would no longer be a matter of do-or-die.
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