Each of the 109 senators earn a bit higher, pocketing N19.66 million each a year, PREMIUM TIMES analysis shows.
Additionally, each senator collects N1.01 million for his domestic staff, while each member of the House of Representatives collects N1million. Apart from this, each senator gets N202, 640 as Newspapers/Periodicals allowance.
Based on the approved pay schedule, N1.4billion is spent on the lawmakers as furniture allowance annually, while their car loan stands at N2.34billion.
With these figures, the 360 members of the House of Representatives gulp N6.58 billion from the nation’s treasury as total allowances and salaries, while the 109 Senators will cost the nation N2.14 billion.
Together, the National Assembly will cost the country a total sum of N8.72 billion as allowances and salaries.
However, the amount the Senators and Members of the House of Representatives remit as tax appears insignificant as it’s being charged on their basic salaries alone. The allowances are about 870 percent and 820 percent of their respective basic salaries.
PREMIUM TIMES analysis of the lawmakers’ pay did however not include the illegal but hefty quarterly allowances lawmakers pay themselves – they call it office running cost.
It is unclear how much it is now. In 2009, it was N192million per senator per quarter while their House of Representatives counterparts received N140 million. Insiders say the “allowances” have increased dramatically over time.
In the twilight of the Seventh Assembly, the clamour by Nigerian civil society organizations only forced the legislators to knock off N20billion from their budgetary allocation, thus making them cut the habitual N150 billion to N130 billion.
First-term senator, Ben Murray-Bruce’s call for reduction in allowances of members of the National Assembly received widespread commendation.
A number of lawmakers followed suit, giving support to Mr. Murray-Bruce’s populist proposal.
Although the Seventh Assembly made the N20 billion cut as part of their austerity measure, the N7.8 billion they will cumulatively earn is almost the sum total of 2015 capital allocation to Power Sector (N4.24billion) Ministry of Women Affairs (N1.25billion), the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology (N500million), Federal Ministry of Justice and the National Human Rights Commission (N500million), the Ministry of Science and Technology (N500million), the Petroleum Resources (N500million)the Ministry of Labour and Productivity (N200million) and Ministry of Police Affairs (N150million).
