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.




Source......... www.punchng.com/news/senators-allowances-nine-times-higher-than-basic-pay/

Senators on the headlines again?? I weak for 9ja

It's still too much to me

And they are representing us abi?
And some people will still support them beyen o.
QUESTION Se democrazy leleyi abi crazydemo?