A former lawmaker who represented Adamawa North Senatorial District, Ishaku Abbo, has justified the N29 million paid as salaries to Nigerian senators, News About Nigeria reports.
He gave this justification while speaking in an interview on Arise TV on Sunday.
Abbo claimed that the monthly earnings of senators are only “big on paper” and not enough for the demands and challenges of their office.
He stated that his salary and allowances while serving as a senator totalled N14.4 million, while today senators earn up to N29 million.
He stated, “When I was in the Senate, cumulatively, all the allowances were N14.4 million per month. You have a wardrobe allowance, a vehicle allowance, and other allowances put together that were N14.4 million, including the N1 million salary.
“It is about N29 million now. N29 million looks big on paper. I’m saying this as an honest man. I’m not trying to support the National Assembly, and I’ve been a member of that vilified institution for five years. I am not standing with them, but I’ll bare the facts on the table.
“I had to leave the company I founded, in which I was the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, to go into governance when I won the election.
“I had to start subsidising my life because the money that was allocated to my office was absolutely nothing considering the demand and challenges faced by my own constituents on a daily basis.
“I had a case of just one person I took to the hospital; I spent N14 million on one person.
“And every month, from all over Adamawa State and other states, my office was besieged with people looking for help.
“I had to start calling some state governors to help me with cases that are being brought from their states into my office.”
Abbo further alleged that some state governors go home with up to N1 billion for state responsibilities.
“From N14 million, I was paying for people’s scholarships and subsidising people’s expenses. While a state governor in this country goes home with over N700 million in security votes every month, some go home with N1 billion to do other security issues.
The ex-lawmaker also stated that he became poorer after quitting his business to become a senator.
According to him, he was poorer, much poorer as a man when he became a politician than he was before he became a politician.
