President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has warned that there could be anarchy if the Senate is scrapped as being clamoured by some Nigerians.
Rather, he challenged those who are not comfortable with the senators in the current 9th Senate to vote them out in 2023 if they don’t like their faces.
Lawan stated this on Friday while declaring open, a retreat for top management staff of the National Assembly and National Assembly Service Commission in Abuja.
He described the Senate as a leveler which ensured that all parts of the country are equally represented unlike the House of Representatives where states with higher populations produce the highest number of lawmakers.
The Senate President also faulted the argument of those clamouring for the scrapping of the Senate because of the perceived jumbo pay being earned by the senators.
He said the annual budget of the National Assembly is less than one per cent of the nation’s 2021 budget.
NewsWireNGR recalls that, the Nigerian media has long reported that Nigerian parliamentarians are the most highly paid in the world.
In June 2018, a Nigerian senator, Shehu Sani exposed the outrageous monthly allowance of members of the Nigerian Senate. While each Nigerian Senator earns ?162 million ($450,000) annually in allowances, and ?9 million ($25,000) as basic salary, the American President, for instance, only earns $450,000 (including bonus) annually.
The controversy that Shehu’s disclosure generated only lasted a short while despite the clear absurdity surrounding the monetary compensation of lawmakers – but the actual earnings of. a Nigerian lawmaker is still shrouded in secrecy.
In October 2020, a member of the House of Representatives, Simon Karu, revealed that each member of the House earns N9.3 million monthly.
The lawmaker, who represents Kaltungo/Shongom federal constituency of Gombe State, stated this on Thursday in Abuja at an event to mark Nigeria’s 60th anniversary.
The event was tagged “FixingNigeria at 60- Sustainable and efficient democracy: Issues on accountability and transparency in governance”.
The lawmaker, however, said most of the funds were spent on constituents’ high demands.
Mr Karu, who was among the guest speakers, said the sum included monthly salaries and the office’s running cost.
“The official salary of a member, House of Representatives which I also receive monthly is N800,0000. I told you I was going to say it, why don’t you wait for me to say it? The office running cost of a member of the House of Representatives is N8.5 million,” he said.
“Those of you who know, know that I said exactly what it is. The problem is what the constituents demand and when you don’t meet (up), they begin to call you names.
“Just before I walked to the stage, I received three emails from my constituents demanding for money and demanding for jobs, when you don’t, it becomes an issue.”
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