The National Institute for Legislative Studies (NILS) says it is
much more expensive to maintain legislators in the U.S.
Congress and the U.K. Parliament than in Nigeria.
Its Director-General, Dr Ladi Hamalai, who
disclosed this in an interview with the News
Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday, was
speaking against the backdrop of calls for a
massive cut in the remuneration of Nigerian
legislators.
Hamalai said most of those calling for cut in the
salaries and allowances of National Assembly
members were not informed on how much it costs
to maintain a parliament.
“If you go to the United States, United Kingdom the
salaries of legislators may not be much but the
budget of maintaining a single legislator in the US
Congress is much.
“Each legislator has a budget for maintaining the
office; each legislator is entitled to about 18 aides.
“This is apart from the many committee staff and
research staff that they have at their disposal.
“We calculated the salaries of the legislator in the
US Congress plus his personal aides; just this two
will amount to almost N254 million in a year.
“Now this is exclusive of budget for maintaining
the office. They also have claims, re-imbursables.
“You travel to do a town hall meeting – these are
eligible claims. So it is not really cheap
maintaining the congress in the U.S.
“Let’s even look at the UK Parliament. By the time
you calculate all the expenses, it will cost between
90 and 100 million naira to maintain a UK
parliamentarian.
“They have personal aides of between eight and 20
depending on the importance of the legislator.“
Hamalai allayed fears that the cost of running the
legislature in Nigeria would not have a negative
impact on the economy.
“One would say yes their GDP is much higher;
they can afford it; then our criticism should not be
that they do not deserve this amount of money
(paid to them); maybe you look at the implication
on the economy.
“Now if you even look at the wider implication on
the economy, you (will) discover that the whole
budget of the National Assembly is just three per
cent of the national budget.
“If you calculate it – you have over four trillion
naira federal budget in a year; the National
Assembly this year has 120 billion naira; this is
even less than three per cent.
“So is it the three per cent that would have so
much impact as to cause so much damage to the
national economy? I don’t think so.“
Also reacting to the calls for the country to adopt a
unicameral legislature as a way of cutting the cost
of governance, the D-G argued that that would
amount to changing the Nigeria’s system of
government.
She said that subscribing to a unicameral
legislature could weaken the principle of Separation
of Powers and make the executive arm of
government dictatorial.
“We need a system whereby we will have good
checks and balances.
“We need a strong legislature; we need a strong
judiciary in this country to make sure that
everybody does the right thing,“ she said.

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/2015/08/us-u-k-lawmakers-more-expensive-to-maintain-than-nigerias/

really

ok

In otherwords, "NASS Need More Wardrobe Allowance??




Tonda Faya than pesin wey talk dis tin..

Interesting.....but then again, compare it as a percentage of what each economy generates.

Nigeria shall be great again sha....

Lies 4rm d pit of hell,

Total BS.
I guess they did not add the opportunity cost of the their salaries, allowances , expenses and the money the bribes they take from agencies and ministries .
Opportunity cost in terms of what the money can do instead having the legislature .
Osun feeds 650,000 students with N2 billion /per month . If you asked me , I would rather feed 130 million children monthly and sack all these useless human beings in the legislature.

They should stop comparing US and UK with Nigeria, those countries are far richer than Nigeria.Only d budget for d fire fighting ministry in US is more than d Nigeria's annual budget, so how can u compare them with Nigeria.

I get so angry when nigerian politicians compare nigeria with UK and US. Are we mates with them in any way? Compare this hopeless nation with countries like south Sudan, Benin Republic and Somalia.

Kingso23:
...
Hamalai said most of those calling for cut in the
salaries and allowances of National Assembly
members were not informed on how much it costs
to maintain a parliament.
...

Take a lot of self-control to call this Evil Dr. the names she deserves. Comparing first-world countries with a no-world nation like ours with crass and ersatz data.

She deliberately play down the fact that our law-makers (individually) earn more than lawmakers in US and UK. Is this part of public service in a poor nation?

What is the standard of living of majority of citizens of these countries?
What fraction of their population are IDPs or homeless?
How many cars, houses, or jets do these US or UK law-makers have?

The gods must have forgotten Nigeria to let this type of evil people get to high positions.

Realistically, as necessitated by the current economic status of the nation:

#No law-maker should earn more than N350,000 as basic salary
#Law-makers should desist from officious functions as constituency projects and inconsequential receptions and travels.
#Their annual budget should not be more than N5 Billion naira.
# We are not UK nor US a Secretary and a Personal Assistant should be okay for each law-maker. We have seen then with 5 phones and 2 tablets, They have free MTN recharge cards, they have free internet services, they have equipped library. So which researchers are they looking for again?

Kingso23:
The National Institute for Legislative Studies (NILS) says it is
much more expensive to maintain legislators in the U.S.
Congress and the U.K. Parliament than in Nigeria.
Its Director-General, Dr Ladi Hamalai, who
disclosed this in an interview with the News
Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday, was
speaking against the backdrop of calls for a
massive cut in the remuneration of Nigerian
legislators.
Hamalai said most of those calling for cut in the
salaries and allowances of National Assembly
members were not informed on how much it costs
to maintain a parliament.
“If you go to the United States, United Kingdom the
salaries of legislators may not be much but the
budget of maintaining a single legislator in the US
Congress is much.
“Each legislator has a budget for maintaining the
office; each legislator is entitled to about 18 aides.
“This is apart from the many committee staff and
research staff that they have at their disposal.
“We calculated the salaries of the legislator in the
US Congress plus his personal aides; just this two
will amount to almost N254 million in a year.
“Now this is exclusive of budget for maintaining
the office. They also have claims, re-imbursables.
“You travel to do a town hall meeting – these are
eligible claims. So it is not really cheap
maintaining the congress in the U.S.
“Let’s even look at the UK Parliament. By the time
you calculate all the expenses, it will cost between
90 and 100 million naira to maintain a UK
parliamentarian.
“They have personal aides of between eight and 20
depending on the importance of the legislator.“
Hamalai allayed fears that the cost of running the
legislature in Nigeria would not have a negative
impact on the economy.
“One would say yes their GDP is much higher;
they can afford it; then our criticism should not be
that they do not deserve this amount of money
(paid to them); maybe you look at the implication
on the economy.
“Now if you even look at the wider implication on
the economy, you (will) discover that the whole
budget of the National Assembly is just three per
cent of the national budget.
“If you calculate it – you have over four trillion
naira federal budget in a year; the National
Assembly this year has 120 billion naira; this is
even less than three per cent.
“So is it the three per cent that would have so
much impact as to cause so much damage to the
national economy? I don’t think so.“
Also reacting to the calls for the country to adopt a
unicameral legislature as a way of cutting the cost
of governance, the D-G argued that that would
amount to changing the Nigeria’s system of
government.
She said that subscribing to a unicameral
legislature could weaken the principle of Separation
of Powers and make the executive arm of
government dictatorial.
“We need a system whereby we will have good
checks and balances.
“We need a strong legislature; we need a strong
judiciary in this country to make sure that
everybody does the right thing,“ she said.

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/2015/08/us-u-k-lawmakers-more-expensive-to-maintain-than-nigerias/

This kind of imbec*ile is one of those in charge of your country?!

Nigeria has a very long way to go.