Senator representing the Federal Capital Territory Ireti Kingibe has revealed that lawmakers were yet to receive any prayers as promised by the President of the Nigerian Senate.
News About Nigeria reports that Senator Kingibe who made this disclosure while appearing on Channels TV’s politics today, explained that she was relatively new to the system and was yet to get any unusual allowance or prayers as promised by the senate president.
Recall that President of the Nigerian Senate Godswill Akpabio had in a now-viral video released at the last proceeding of the Nigerian senate mistakenly disclosed that the Senate clerk had sent allowance to the lawmakers to enjoy their recess. Akpabio however retracted his comments on remembering that the house proceeding was being aired on national tv.
Before retracting his statement and referring to the claimed payout as “prayers” delivered to the senators’ “mailboxes,” Akpabio told the senators that “In order to enable all of us to enjoy our holidays, a token has been sent to our various accounts by the Clerk of the National Assembly.”
However when asked if she had received prayers as promised by the Nigerian Senate, Ms King Ibe said: “No, actually, I didn’t receive any prayers, but I’ll check my email for the prayers. I don’t think it was anything extra that we were supposed to be given. I certainly haven’t seen anything extra.”
Asked to comment on the high cost of governance, particularly on the part of senators often criticised as some of the highest paid in the world, the opposition lawmaker conceded that she could not change anything.
Following the release of the video, Nigerians have continued to voice their discontent with the president of the Nigerian Senate. Nigerians are perplexed as to why the general populace is supposed to bear the weight of subsidy removal while MPs continue to receive enormous unnecessary allowances.
However, this is not the first time the president of the Nigerian Senate has faced criticism for making careless remarks. News About Nigeria recalls that Mr.Akpabio received harsh criticism for making a joke with “let the poor breath,” a phrase that many Nigerians deemed to be extremely insensitive coming from the president of the Nigerian Senate.
