Senators, Reps gulp N8.7bn annually
Going by National Assembly members’ conservative salary, which excludes allowances, seem to be affecting the national budget, which by extension is making the implementation of the new N18,000 minimum wage. The computation of salaries across the board, irrespective of political office in the Senate and House of Reps, indicates that the annual Nigerian budget is […]
Going by National Assembly members’ conservative salary, which excludes allowances, seem to be affecting the national budget, which by extension is making the implementation of the new N18,000 minimum wage. The computation of salaries across the board, irrespective of political office in the Senate and House of Reps, indicates that the annual Nigerian budget is reduced by N8.53 billion, excluding other alleged outrageous benefits.
The breakdown shows that a senator who earns an average of N2.45 million per month translates to N267.1 million monthly for all 109 senators netting an annual lump sum of N3.2 billion for all per annum. For the House of Reps, a member earns N1.27 million monthly, translating to N15.24 million a year, which gets to a total sum of N5.5 billion for all 360 members in the lower legislative chambers, per annum.
Opinions sampled by Weekly Trust show that the average Nigerian civil servant is unhappy with the current take-home pay which respondents almost unanimously said was beyond meagre. One such civil servant in the Ministry of Health, who asked to be identified as Hassan A. believes the wage disparity existing in the country – especially between civil servants and politicians – will one day cause serious political upheaval in the country if not addressed. Hassan added that only in Nigeria will such a lacuna exist unaddressed. “Many Nigerians, in their characteristic manner, will always turn a blind eye to the burst financial pipe as long as they can get something to survive on,” he said.
Another civil servant, Kaduna-based Charity Agwom, told Weekly Trust that Nigerians have patiently waited, thinking things will change. “But even when the change comes, all we get are insults, as we have to force the new wage out of the government’s hands through strikes and protest marches,” she complained. “Nigerians are peaceful, but the political class should not take us for granted as we may soon take the nasty option of taking to the streets.”
Though federal legislators passed the approval of the new minimum wage, citizens believe their actions work contrary to what they seem to be preaching, insisting that with the meagre allocations to states, payment of the wage increment is difficult to attain.
Governor of Niger State, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, on the new wage increment insisted that while he is not opposed to the new salary package for civil servants, there remained a need for an upward review of federal allocations to states. He explained that his state government depends on N2.2 billion monthly statutory allocations to take care of payments of salaries of over 30,000 workers and the implementation of projects across the 25 local governments in the state. “In a situation where about N1.6 billion is used to pay salaries – while a paltry sum of N600 million is left for capital projects and payment of overhead cost to MDAs – the payment of the new wage will further task the state to its limits. But Ismaila Tanimu, a student in Taraba State capital Jalingo, said elected officials should cut down on their own allowances. “If they do that sacrifice, then the common man can get some succor,” he said.