A member of the 10th Senate and Senator representing Kano South senatorial district of Kano State on the platform of New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Abdurrahman Kawu Sumaila has revealed that he earns approximately N21million monthly in salary and allowances.
The lawmaker made this revelation while speaking to BBC Hausa Service on Wednesday morning, saying the allegation of former President Olusegun Obasanjo that members of the National Assembly fix bogus salaries and allowances for themselves is false.
He said that the official pay package was fixed by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) – the body empowered by law to fix salaries and allowances of political office-holders. The Senator said, “My monthly salary is less than N1million. After deductions, the figure comes down to a little over N600,000. He added that: “Given the increase effected, in the Senate, each Senator gets N21million every month as running cost.”
It was reported on Tuesday how Nigeria’s Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) revealed that each senator earns a total of N1,063,860 as monthly salary and allowances. The breakdown of these earnings, according to the commission, shows that each of the 109 senators earns Basic Salary of N168,866.70; Motor Vehicle Fuelling and Maintenance Allowance, ₦126,650.00; Personal Assistant, ₦42,216.66; Domestic Staff, ₦126,650.00; Entertainment, ₦50,660.00; Utilities, ₦50,660.00; Newspapers/Periodicals, ₦25,330.00; Wardrobe, ₦42,216.66; House Maintenance: ₦8,443.33 and Constituency Allowance: ₦422,166.66.
The chairman of RMAFC, M.B. Shehu made the revelation on Tuesday in response to claims made by former Senator Shehu Sani.Senator Sani had had alleged that senators receive an additional monthly running cost of N13.5 million, on top of the N750,000 monthly allocation set by the Commission. But RMAFC boss, Shehu said that the commission lacks the constitutional authority to enforce adherence to the remuneration guidelines, though he noted that the National Assembly is addressing this issue.
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