Senators’ allowances nine times higher than basic pay

NIGERIANS that have expressed surprise that each
senator receives N506,600 per annum as wardrobe
allowance may be in for a shocker as the lawmakers
receive far more allowances under different other
categories.
Investigation by our correspondent on Monday showed
that senators’ allowances totalled N18,642,880 on
annual basis.
In all, the allowance each senator receives is nine times
more than his annual salary.
A senator’s salary is pegged at N2,026,400 per annum.
Each senator or a member of the House of
Representatives is entitled to 19 different allowances.
These allowances are for vehicle maintenance and
fuelling; domestic staff, entertainment, utilities, personal
assistant, constituency, wardrobe, house maintenance,
newspapers, recess, accommodation, furniture,
severance, tour duty, estacode, special assistant,
security, legislative aide and medical.
These allowances are specified in the Remuneration
Package for Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders
prepared by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and
Fiscal Commission.
On an annual basis, the 107 senators receive
N1,994,788,160 as allowances. Only 107 senators are
eligible for these allowances. The President of the
Senate and Deputy President of the Senate receive
fewer allowances because most of their needs are fully
provided for by the state.
For members of the House, the annual allowances
payable are about eight times higher than their annual
salaries.
While the annual salary of a House member is pegged
at N1,985,212.50, the annual allowances add up to
N15,286,135.25. This means that the 358 members of
the House (excluding the speaker and the deputy
speaker) get N5,472,436,419.5 annually in allowances.
The allowances, however, are in categories. Some are
tagged regular while others are tagged irregular
allowances.
Regular allowances are those that are paid on monthly
basis along with the monthly salaries while irregular
allowances are paid at other intervals, ranging from
annual to once in four years.
There are also other allowances not included in this
calculation that are paid not at any fixed periods but as
many times as they occur in the year.
The allowances are calculated as percentages of the
annual salaries. While some are higher than the annual
salaries, others are lower.
Basically, both senators and Reps are paid the same
percentages of their salaries as allowances, except the
constituency allowance where senators are paid 250
per cent while Reps get 100 per cent of their annual
salaries.
Vehicle maintenance and fuelling allowance is 75 per
cent; domestic staff, 75 per cent; entertainment, 30 per
cent; utilities, 30 per cent; wardrobe, 25 per cent;
newspapers, 15 per cent; house maintenance, five per
cent; and personal assistants, 25 per cent.
For a senator, therefore, the vehicle maintenance and
fuelling allowance adds up to N1,519,800; domestic
staff, N1, 519,800; entertainment, N607,920; utilities,
N607,920; wardrobe, N506,600; newspapers, N303,960;
house maintenance, N101,320; constituency,
N5,066,000; personal assistant, N506,600.
For a member of the House of Representatives, the
vehicle maintenance and fuelling allowance comes up
to N1,488,909.40; domestic staff, N1,488,909.40;
entertainment, N595,563.75; utilities, 595,563.75;
wardrobe, N496,303.12; newspapers, N303,960; house
maintenance, N99,260.62; constituency, N1,985,212.50;
and personal assistant, N 496,303.12.
The irregular allowances include housing allowance, 200
per cent of the Reps annual salaries; furniture
allowance, 300 per cent; recess allowance, 10 per cent
and severance allowance, 300 per cent.
Housing allowance is paid once a year. Furniture
allowance is paid once in four years and recess
allowance is paid when the lawmakers are on recess
and they go on recess four times in a year. Severance
allowance is at the end of the four-year tenure.
The housing allowance of a senator is N4,053,800. The
furniture allowance is N6,079,200. On annualised basis,
the furniture allowance is N1,519,800. The recess
allowance climbs to N810,560 if they go on recess four
times a year. The severance allowance is N6,079,200.
On annual basis, it comes down to N1,519,800.
For Reps, the housing allowance is N3,970,425. The
furniture allowance is N5,955,637.50. Annually, the
furniture allowance comes down to N1, 488,909.38.
Also, recess allowance comes up to N794, 084. The
severance allowance is N5,955,637.50. On annual basis,
it comes down to N1,488,909.38.
There are other allowances that the lawmakers are not
paid directly but provided and paid for by the
government.
These are allowances for special assistants, security
and legislative aides. What this means is that those
engaged in these capacities are paid directly by the
government as the allowances cannot be claimed by
political office holders. These allowances apply to
senators and Reps.
Medical expenses are also borne by the government
when the lawmakers have need for the services.
The lawmakers are also entitled to tour duty allowance
and estacode whenever they travel out of the country.
For a senator, the tour duty allowance is N37,000 per
night while the estacode is $950 per night.
For a member of the House of Representatives, the tour
duty allowance is N35,000 per night while the estacode
is $900 per night.
Although political office holders in the country are
among the highest paid government officials in the
world, our correspondent reports that the worry of
many Nigerians is not what they earn officially but
what accrues to them through self-appropriation and
corruption.
The budget of the National Assembly is never broken
into components and efforts to get them to break down
the budget have not yielded the required result even
after the invocation of the Freedom of Information Act.
Lawmakers are known to collect huge quarterly
allocations, some of which are ostensibly designated for
constituency projects. The constituency allowance is
different from the constituency project fund.
Constituency allowance is paid for the maintenance of
constituency office and contact while constituency
project fund are appropriated to enable the lawmakers
to execute projects in their constituencies.