The Senate, on Thursday, clarified claims by the Senator representing Kano South, Sumaila Kawu, that he earned a cumulative N21million monthly in salary and allowances, saying it was false.
But Kawu, has further come out to accuse former President Olusegun Obasanjo of introducing corruption to the National Assembly.
At the same time, a former senator for Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, has reiterated the need for transparency in the handling of parliamentary funds, particularly concerning senators’ salaries and the cost of running their offices.
Kawu had in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service on Wednesday claimed that his “monthly salary is less than N1million.”
“After deductions, the figure comes down to a little over N600,000,” he said.
The Kano South Senator added that: “Given the increase effected, in the Senate, each Senator gets N21million every month as running cost.”
But the Senator representing Ekiti South and Chairman, Senate Committee on Public Affairs, Yemi Adaramodu, in a statement on Thursday maintained that running cost was quite different from the salary and personal allowances of the lawmakers.
He noted that it has been fixed by the statutory agency empowered to fix salary and allowances of those in elective offices, the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).
The Chairman of RMAFC, Muhammed Bello, had on Tuesday, revealed that each Senator collects a monthly salary and allowances of the sum of N1,063,860:00.
Adaramodu, who submitted that running cost was not peculiar to the legislature for running of their offices further clarified that, “such funds are retired by relevant officers after being used for official purposes and proof of genuine expenditure.
“It’s not a personal allowance or salary of the legislator,”Adaramodu said, adding that such funds was also used for Constituency office staff.
The Senate spokesman expressed strong reservations over narrative of wasteful spending by the parliament, declaring that, “The Senate is an assembly of accomplished and successful professionals, administrators and captains of industries.”
But Kawu, who started the controversy, faulted Obasanjo’s remarks that the lawmakers fixed their own pay.
“When you are talking about corruption, it is Obasanjo who introduced corruption into the National Assembly,” Senator Kawu said on Thursday’s edition of Channels Television’s The Morning Brief.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Sport doubled down on his claims.
“I have proof because it is his government and his associates, who corrupted some members of the National Assembly for them to alter the Constitution for him to continue to contest for a third term as president,” he said on the show.
The salaries and allowances of lawmakers have been shrouded in secret, triggering heated debates.
The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) stated that each senator earned N1 million amid calls to know what lawmakers take home.
Days after the comment, Senator Kawu, however, said each senator took home N21 million monthly.
Meanwhile, a former senator for Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, has reiterated the need for transparency in the handling of parliamentary funds, particularly concerning senators’ salaries and the cost of running their offices.
Sani expressed his concerns during an interview with ARISE NEWS where he reacted to Senator Kawu Sumaila’s recent disclosure that each senator received 21 million naira monthly for office expenses.
He disclosed the three categories of payment senators receive to include salary, running cost of office and constituency project funds
According to him, “Since 1999, one thing that has remained shielded from the public is the allowances, payments, and finances of parliamentarians.
“When I went to the Senate in 2015, I was first on the field as an activist and was one of those calling for the Senate to open its books and the need for transparency and openness for taxpayers, especially to know how much their representatives are earning.”
In 2017, Sani famously revealed that his account was credited with 13.5 million naira monthly as running costs, separate from his 750,000 naira salary.
He explained that, “When anybody is elected into the parliament, there are three categories of payment he receives: the salary, the running cost of office, and the constituency project funds. But you are not given this large sum of money. These funds are domiciled in government agencies.”
Chuks Okocha and Sunday Aborisade
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