The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, has stated that the salaries paid to the federal lawmakers are not much and are smaller than what Nigerians project, News About Nigeria reports.
He disclosed this while speaking on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ on Monday.
Kalu noted that the salaries the lawmakers are being paid cannot take them home to do the jobs they were elected to do, maintaining that the call for the slashing of their salaries by 50 percent is not the solution to the current problem.
“At the moment, talking about the salary of the National Assembly. I have said this over and again, it is not as much as people think. Salary is different from allowance, which is meant to do the jobs our constituents have sent us to do.
“Nobody is allowed to touch allowances. It is the salary that belongs to you. Allowances have no subheadings for which they are made. If you use it wrongly, when you retire, you will be sanctioned for that.
“So talking about the salaries of the National Assembly, it is a far cry from what it is supposed to be. And I can assure you that even if we reduce it by 50 percent or 80 percent, it will not really impact what the Nigerian lawmakers should be earning, which does not go in tandem with the economic situation of the country,” he stated.
According to him, there are lots of responsibilities lawmakers face, including the cost of transport, running constituency offices, and the number of maintenance aides who are supposed to help them achieve what the mandate of that office demands.
He, however, stated that they would be willing to adjust. If that is what will move Nigeria to the next level.
