Moves to Reduce Senators’ Allowances Hit Brick Wall, as Lawmakers Disagree

Moves to Reduce Senators’ Allowances Hit Brick Wall, as Lawmakers Disagree

The moves by the Senate President Bukola Saraki to review salaries and allowances of senators as well as make details of their remunerations transparent may be a huge task as the lawmaker move is not going down smoothly with some of the lawmaker.

The report of the committee which was laid before the Senate last week by Senator James Manager, who chaired the committee, was slated for debate on the Order Paper today, it was however stood down after two hours of closed-door session by the senators.

After the closed-door session, Saraki announced that the report of the committee which was said to have recommended pay cut and transparency on their earnings would be stood down for further inputs.

“Senate in the closed-door session deliberated on the report of the finance committee and agreed to step it down for further legislative input,” Saraki said.

However, it was learnt today that most of the senators rejected the move to reduce their earnings. They also criticised the move to make their earnings public.

One of the senators who did not want to be named told the press that the move to further reduce their allowances was not sensible since the National Assembly’s annual budget had already been reduced from N150 billion to N120 billion.

He said the cut in their yearly budget by N30 billion automatically translates to a reduction in their overall remuneration adding that reducing their earnings further would make it difficult for them to meet the various demands from their constituents.

Accordingly, the lawmaker also said the Senate could not unilaterally reduce its earnings without reaching a consensus with the House of Representatives as well as various departments of the National Assembly such as the Public Conducts Commission, National Assembly Commission, National Institute for Legislative Studies and the like.

“Our budget was N150 billion. It has already been reduced to N120 billion. That will affect our income. I have constituency offices to maintain. How do l cope with lots of demands from my constituents? If you see my phone here, you ‘ll see many requests for money. How do l meet all these? Should l go and steal? I have security men. I pay N150,000 to the Police every month. How do l do this?” He wondered.