Professor Itse Sagay, a renowned
scholar of law and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, has said that Nigerian lawmakers
at the lower and upper chambers of the National Assembly are the highest paid
legislators in the globe, saying their salaries and allowances represent a
cruel anomaly in the country’s democratic governance. He accused Nigerian
lawmakers of selfish pursuits and faulted the constitutional amendment recently
carried out by the National Assembly.
The professor disclosed
this yesterday at a lecture titled; ‘legislating for the Common Good:
Contemporary Issues and Perspectives’ to mark the 47th birthday of Lagos State
Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Comrade Opeyemi Bamidele.
According to Sagay, the
anomaly is negative and a breach of public trust. “A senator earns N240 million
($1.7 million) in salaries and allowances while his House of representative
counterpart earns about N204 million ($1.45 million) per annum,” Sagay said.
The Law Professor said an
American senator “earns $174, 000 while a UK parliamentarian earns about $64,
000 per annum, which is very low compared to that of Nigerian lawmakers when
compared with what their colleagues earn in the United States and United
Kingdom.”
“In spite of the dismal
standard of living, poverty of the country and low income per capita of the
country, Nigerian legislators in Abuja have awarded themselves the highest
salaries and allowances in the world.”
Sagay alleged that they
were in the National Assembly to engage in the pursuit of self interest instead
of serving the people of this country. Continuing, he said, “In 2009, the
federal legislators received a total of N102.8 billion comprising N11.8 billion
as salaries and N90.96 billion as non taxable allowances,” thus bemoaning the
outrageous pay.
He described it as a
tragic situation that is clearly unsustainable, saying the anomaly “is
seriously endangering our democracy.” He argued that it was debatable to spend
$1.7 million on each of 109 senators and $1.45 million on each of 360 members
of the House of Representatives when the President of the richest country in
the world,
Mr. Barrack Obama earned
just $400, 000 per annum. He said Nigerian Senate President earned N88.33
million per month while his deputy earned N50 million, comparing their pay with
what US President Barrack Obama who “earns $400,000 per annum while British Prime
Minister David Cameron goes home with 190,000 pounds.”
He explained that the
Senate “allocates N1.24 billion as quarterly allowances to its 10 principal
officers known collectively as Senate leadership while each of the other
principal officers earn N78 million
every three months.
“The tragic state of
affairs is clearly unsustainable. Those engaged in this feeding frenzy are
endangering our democracy,” he warned.
Jos, the Plateau state capital, boiled yet again recently leaving in the wake of it hundreds of lives lost and properties worth billions of Naira destroyed. A good number of those who survived crisis have been economically displaced and may have to start life all over again.
A number of people would have kept their dead parents in the mortuary for months, thereby delaying the natural process of decomposition, all for fear of kidnap in the southeast today.
Deregulation, the magic wand, we've been told is the only solution to our petroleum needs. Nigerians, the federal government insists, must embrace deregulation if they need petroleum products or face the fate of returning to the medieval era of using firewood and stones or at best acquire plenty of donkeys from northern Nigeria, if they must move around.
Hey Ladies, In the last publication we
talked about being independent as a lady and highlighted so many points, but we
want to continue exploring the independent state of mind placing emphasis on
when the quest for independence could turn into arrogance in homes or amidst
friends.
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