[size=14pt]Nigerian legislator’s pay dwarfs rest of the world[/size]

Nigerian federal legislators with a basic salary of $189, 500 per annum (N30.6 million) are the highest paid in the world, according to data from the UK based Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, the IMF and the Economist.

The legislator’s basic salary (which excludes allowances) is 116 times Nigeria’s GDP per person of $1,600, and is 52 percent higher than what Kenyan legislators, who are the second highest paid legislators, earn as a percentage of GDP per capita.

In absolute terms, Nigerian legislators only earn less than their Australian counterparts who make $201,000 per annum, or about 3.5 times the salary of the average Australian.

The ranking also shows that four out of five of the highest paid legislators in the world are African legislators, with the top five being Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Indonesia and South Africa.

The high legislator pay has been causing a lot of outcry in some countries, as citizens protest the huge pay discrepancy between legislators and average citizens.

An independent body’s suggestion that British lawmakers’ salaries should rise from £66,396 ($105,400) to £74,000 in 2015 has prompted a media firestorm, while furious Kenyan demonstrators burned 221 coffins outside parliament in a row over the pay and benefits awarded to Kenyan MPs.

In Nigeria, the huge legislator pay is compounded by a lethargic approach to lawmaking that has seen the lawmakers passing less than 10 percent of bills before them, since the inauguration of the 7th Assembly (2011-2015) on June 6, 2011.

BusinessDay also reported last week that the National Assembly, which is facing a backlog of unfinished business and increasing public disapproval, has spent N5.2 billion on average to pass a bill in the past two years.

The National Assembly, which comprises the Senate and House of Representatives, has passed 69 bills out of a total of 725 bills in various stages of progress before it, according to BusinessDay’s analysis of the bill progression chart of both houses, gotten from the Assembly’s website.

Meanwhile, 73 percent of people in Nigeria think that the parliament is affected by corruption, data from Transparency International’s (TI) most recent global corruption barometer shows. Ninety-four percent of respondents in the same TI survey said Nigerian political parties are affected by corruption.

The Nigerian legislature had a budget of N232.7 billion for 2011, N150 billion for 2012, and N150 billion for 2013.

The prorated cost of running the 7th National Assembly since its inauguration in 2011 till date, amounts to N360.74 billion ($2.2 billion).

A major piece of legislation left undone by the legislators includes the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which aims to unify all the necessary legislations in one bill and provide a clear framework for investment in the energy sector.

“The slow pace of progress on key legislation is a concern for investors,” said Razia Khan, regional head of research, Africa, at Standard Chartered Bank, in response to BusinessDay questions.

The PIB, which may help improve job creation and revenues for the government at all levels (federal, state and local governments) and in theory, better the lives of the 70 percent of Nigerians who live below the poverty line, has been stuck in parliament for over four years.

This has led to loss or deferred investment of at least $28 billion in Nigeria’s oil sector since 2010, according to ExxonMobil’s Nigerian producing unit, with the beneficiaries being other producers in the sub-region, such as Angola and Ghana.

The National Assembly budget for 2013 is also equivalent to 9.2 percent of the Federal Government’s 2013 capital expenditure budget of N1.6 trillion.

The cost of running the National Assembly has serially been named as one of the highest in the world. The upper and lower houses of Nigeria consist of a 109-member Senate and the 360-member House of Representatives.

“Many citizens cannot fathom why the legislators are paid so much money to do so little,” said one analyst, to BusinessDay.

http://businessdaynigeria.com/nigerian-legislator-s-pay-dwarfs-rest-world

And dis Yeye People no see this One to Protest About?
I have always said it, that Nigeria's Problem isn't Her Executive, but d Useless Legislative Arm..
Instead of the Opposition to Concentrate on taking over d Legislature, they are busy eyeing the Presidency!

And I'm very sure this Report will not make Frontpage..

Self-serving Bastards..All of them!

Front page things