REVEALED! Senators, Reps Share N46 Billion Annually

Senators and members of the House of Representatives share a total of N46billion annually as running cost, Daily Trust reports.

The amount represents over 40 percent of the National Assembly’s N115 billion annual budget.

The money, correspondents gathered was for the running cost, covering expenditures such as basic salary, vehicle maintenance, entertainment, utility, domestic staff, constituency, newspapers, recess allowance, wardrobe, personal assistant and housing.

Each of the 109 Senators gets N12million monthly while the 360 House members get N7million monthly totalling N3.8billion monthly.

A document obtained by Daily Trust showed that of the N115 billion, the House gets N47.2billion, Senate N30.2billion and the National Assembly bureaucracy N11.6billion.

The document showed also that N9.7billion was budgeted for legislative aides, N9.5billion for general service, N4.2billion for the National Institute for Legislative Studies (NILS), N1.9billion for the National Assembly Service Commission, N379million for Service Wide Votes, N138million for House Public Accounts Committee and N115million for the Senate Public Accounts Committee.

Based on the provision of the review remuneration package of political, public and judicial office holders by the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), 2009, a senator’s annual basic salary is N2.026m, while that of a member of the House is N1.985m.

Other allowances for senators, according to RMAFC, are accommodation, 150 percent of annual basic salary (N3.039m); furniture, N3.039m (150%); motor vehicle allowance, N5.066m (250%); motor vehicle maintenance, N1.013m (50%); personal assistant, N506,600 (25%); domestic staff, N1.013m (50%); entertainment, N405,280 (20%); utilities, N202,640 (25%); recess allowance, N202,640 (10%); newspaper/periodicals, N202,640 (10%); constituency allowance, N2.533m (125%) and severance gratuity, N6.079m (300%).

As for the members of the House, the RMAFC provides that accommodation is N2.977m, which is (150%) percent of annual basic salary; furniture, N744,454 (150%); motor vehicle allowance, N4.963 (250%); motor vehicle maintenance, N992,606 (50%); personal assistant, N496,303 (25%); domestic staff, N992,606 (50%); entertainment, N397,042 (20%); utilities, N198,521 (10%); recess allowance, N198,521 (10%); newspaper/periodicals, N198,521 (10%); constituency allowance, N1.488m (75%) and severance gratuity, N5.955m (300%).

Out of the allowances, furniture, motor vehicle allowance and severance gratuity, which stand at N14.184m and 11.662m for a senator and a member of the House respectively, are paid once in four years.