In what appears to throwing the the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission under the bus, the lawmaker representing Kano South, Senator Sumaila Kawu, says he earns over N21m monthly as a total take-home package.
Kawu disclosed this during an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Hausa Service on Wednesday morning, stating that he gets less than N1 million a month in salary, while his allowances exceed N21 million.
“The amount of salary (sic) I receive per month is less than N1 million. If there are cuts, it comes back to about N600,000 and a little something as salary.
“In the Senate, each senator is given N21 million every month as the cost of running his office,” he said during the interview
This revelation is coming barely 24 hours after the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission said that each of the 109 senators in the upper chamber receives a total of N1.06m in salary and allowances per month.
The RMAFC Chairman, Mohammed Shehu, said this as a form of clarification in response to recent controversies over the real amount each lawmaker earns per month.
A breakdown of their monthly earnings revealed that each Senator collects:
- a monthly salary and allowances of N1,063,860, consisting of:
- a basic salary, N168,866:70
- motor vehicle fueling and maintenance allowance, N126,650:00
- personal assistant, N42,216:66.
Others include:
- domestic staff,126,650:00
- entertainment, N50,660:00
- utilities, N50,660:00
- newspapers/periodicals, N25,330:00
- wardrobe, N42,216,66:00
- house maintenance, N8,443.33:00
- constituency allowance, N422,166:66.
Shehu, in the statement, noted, “The commission also wishes to use this opportunity to state that any allegation regarding other allowance(s) being enjoyed by any political, public office holder outside those provided in the Remuneration (Amendment) Act, 2008 should be explained by the person who made the allegation.
“To avoid misinformation and misrepresentation of facts capable of misleading citizens and members of the international community, the commission considers it most appropriate and necessary to request Nigerians and any other interested party to avail themselves of the opportunity to access the actual details of the present remuneration package for political, public and judicial office holders in Nigeria published on its website: www.rmafc.gov.ng.”
However, Senator Kawu, in the BBC interview said though his monthly salary is about N1m, his total take-home is over N21m, a wide margin from figures quoted by RMFAC.
Kawu said, “The amount of salary I receive per month is less than N1m, if there are cuts, it comes back to about six hundred thousand naira and a little something as salary.”
He noted that there are usually a few deductions by the RMFAC.
The issue of the amount of money received by federal lawmakers stirred up fresh controversies since last week.
Last week, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, who was president between 1999 and 2007, had, on Friday in Abeokuta, Ogun State, while hosting six members of the House of Representatives led by Ikenga Ugochinyere, chided the federal lawmakers for fixing their salaries and emoluments.
Obasanjo said, “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 (including) newspaper allowances.
“You give yourselves all sorts of things, and you know it is not right. It is immoral, (yet) 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 (each).”
Also, a former Kaduna Central Senator, Shehu Sani, had once publicly disclosed that each Senator collects a monthly running cost of N13.5m, in addition to the monthly N750,000 prescribed by the RMFAC.
Meanwhile, the Senate in a Press statement on Sunday refuted Obasanjo’s claim.
