Labour insisted yesterday that federal
lawmakers must further cut their
N120 billion budget —in line with
economic realities.
The Joe Ajaero-led Nigeria Labour
Congress (NLC) faction said the
reduction of the National Assembly’s
budget from N150 billion to N120
billion “is too token and not far
reaching enough”.
It threatened a mass revolt should
the lawmakers and the executive fail
to bring down their recurrent
expenses.
The faction’s Deputy President,
Comrade Issa Aremu, who is also the
General Secretary of the Textile
Workers Union, advised National
Assembly members to appreciate the
mood of the nation for leadership
sacrifices, resource allocation for
national development and common
good as opposed to self-help.
He spoke to reporters in Kaduna.
But a House of Representatives
member, Mohammed Abdulkadir,
said the N120billion is not all for
salaries.
Labour said “nations prosper when
their leaders are willing to sacrifice;
while nations fail when leaders
engage in selfish self-help agenda.”
The factional NLC group asked:
“Should 109 senators and 360
members of the House of
Representatives gulp as much as
N120 billion in a year, which is twice
the 2015 budget of Ekiti State
(N80.774 billion), a state with the
population of 2,384,212 people?
“How equitable is it for less than 500
national legislators to gulp N120
billion annually when Osun State with
a population of 3,423,535 people and
unfunded 2015 Appropriation Bill of
N201 billion is yet to pay salaries for
seven months?
“Benue State has as many as
4,219,244 people; it budgeted N98.54
billion; Zamfara has 3,259,846
citizens and budgeted N92.80 billion;
and Ebonyi, budgeted N80.02 billion
for 2,173,501 people.
“The respective budgets of these
three states is half of the budget of
the National Assembly. How
equitable is that?
“There has been illegal and
unconstitutional concentration of
scarce national resources in the
hands of our legislators and
Executive office holders alike that
must be reversed now.
“For instance, Kano State budgeted
N210 billion in 2015. Kano State has
9,383,682 people. The budget per
capital of Kano, estimated at
N22,379, is miserable, compared to
budget per capital of the National
Assembly at N293,398,533!
“No country can prosper with this
wide and widening gap in resource
allocation between the governed and
some elected government officials.
“The National Assembly members
should take the advantage of the
current goodwill of Nigerians in
making anamend failing which they
provoke mass revolt of the people.
“NLC, therefore, is advocating that
the first step is that the National
Assembly budget should be reversed
to 2003 budget of N50 billion, which
will certainly cut the existing budget
of the assembly by more than 50 per
cent.
It stressed that since 2003, “the
number of members remains the
same while most of their
infrastructural needs have been met.
Secondly, the national economy can
hardly afford this legislative pay.
“The eighth National Assembly must
make a difference. It should be
accountable to Nigerian people, just
as many Executives have done.
“The eighth Assembly must
complement President Muhammadu
Buhari in his resolve to cut cost of
governance fuelled by corruption,
the worse form of which is
outrageous pay for public office
holders.
“They must emulate governors like
Mallam Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna
State and his deputy who have cut
their pay by 50 per cent and urged
the Members of the House of
Assembly to follow suit.
“Kano State Governor Abdullahi
Umar Ganduje also reduced the
salaries and allowances of public
office holders in the state by 50 per
cent.
“Significantly the legislators must
reject the Greek allowances Revenue
Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal
Commission (RMAFC) generously
accorded them. These allowances are
unsustainable. They are not based on
needs in a depressed economy.
“For instance, why pay legislators
who already collected over a million
naira wardrobe allowance?
“It will take a minimum wage earner
about two years and five months to
earn what legislators earn as
wardrobe allowance of N506,600.
”The eighth National Assembly
should rightly redirect national
resources to priority sectors, such as
education, health and road
construction.
“The assembly must also urgently
review the minimum Wage Act of
2010 which, according to the Act,
expires next month.
“The Assembly should constitute the
Tripartite Statutory Committee based
on equal basis between government,
organized labour and organized
private sector,” it said.

www.news247.com.ng/news/nlc-to-
lawm...

Birds of same feather!
Na una sabi

^^^ Don't mind them

We still get NLC for dis country?, I tink say dem die wen osho baba left.

Motion supported!! How can 469 people get bigger allocation than 2.4 million people?

Clowns always coming late to the party!!

Empty threat . We dnt have NLC anymore

120B is a whole lot of money but it doesn't amount to much in the hands of each lawmaker.
Free them abeg

Una dey find bribe or na now day break for una eyes

OREMUSSANCTUS:
We still get NLC for dis country?, I tink say dem die wen osho baba left.

na wetin I been wan ask...na now the fools dey wake up...when a part of that 120bill go land there account na so them go use super glue gum there mouth...bunch of fools...

Nlc koor.... NPC nii...



Useless fuctards