Nigerian senators earn $1 million yearly, more than what the US president receives
- With the amount of money Nigerian senators receive monthly, they are paid more than what the United States president earns
- Senator Shehu Sani of the APC had earlier revealed the amount of money he and his colleagues receive monthly
- Since the revelation, Nigerians have been condemning the Senate for allocating such amount of money to themselves
Since the revelation by the senator representing Kaduna Central senatorial district, Shehu Sani, of the amount of money he and his colleagues receive monthly, Nigerians have not stopped condemning the Senate.
Legit.ng noted that Sani stated that the country’s senators receive N13.5 million (£27,000, $37,500) every month to use on expenses of their own choice, with little accountability on how the money is spent.
Apart from the N13.5 million, the senators receive salary of N750,000 (more than $2,000) alongside a yearly constituency budget of $5.5 million. This expense allowance is money paid on top of a senator’s salary which is more than $2,000 a month alongside a yearly constituency budget of N200 million ($5.5m).
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Sani said: “The National Assembly is one of the most non-transparent organs of government. It pricked my conscience and I decided to burst the bubble and open the National Assembly to public scrutiny. If the expenses payment system was ended then parliament would only be attractive to people who contribute ideas."
Lawyer and human rights activists, Femi Falana, commended the lawmaker for his revelations, but said what lawmakers earn goes beyond what was declared by the senator, adding that the exposure confirms a statement by the chairman of the Presidential Advisory Council, Itse Sagay, that Nigerian legislators are the highest paid in the world.
The expenses and salary of Nigerian senators indicate that they are paid more than three times that of US senators who were formerly believed to be the highest paid in the world, with an annual salary of $174,000. Nigerian senators are also paid more than the US president who earns $400,000 a year.
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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the National Assembly confirmed that members of the Senate receive N13.5 million monthly as running cost.
The Senate spokesperson, Aliyu Abdullahi, said the revelation recently made by the senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, that members of the red chamber receive N13.5 million monthly is "nothing new".
He said the details revealed to the public by Sani is already contained in budget for the National Assembly.
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Source: Legit.ng
