Members of the House of Representatives, on Wednesday, demanded a review of their allowances to equal ministers saying it is in line with the constitution, which puts them at par.

The Deputy Speaker of the House, Usman Nafada, announced this when the lawmakers discussed a bill on the salaries and allowances of political and judicial officers.

The bill, “A Bill for an Act to Further Amend the Certain Political, Public and Judicial Officer Holders (Salaries and Allowance, etc) Act 2002 and for Other Related Matters Therein, 2009, 2009”, passed second reading.

The consideration of the executive bill followed the directive by President Umaru Yar’Adua, last year, that the allowances of all political office holders should be reviewed downwards because of the global economic meltdown.

The review was undertaken by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission and forwarded to the president who in turn sent it to the National Assembly.

Mr. Nafada condemned the current practice in which ministers earn more allowances, particularly estacode, than members of the House even though they are considered equal.

Section 147 (5) states that “No person shall be appointed as a Minister of the Government of the Federation unless he is qualified for election as a member of the House of Representatives.”

He said: “There is no reason why the allowances of the ministers should be higher than those of the members of the House. For instance, the estacode we take up to what the ministers take. Ministers are getting 100 percent higher than members are getting.

He revealed that the leadership of the House has met on over five occasions to discuss the matter, but the changes are yet to be made.

“We (leadership) have met more than five times on the matter, yet nothing has been done. It is not that we are opposed to their (ministers) getting allowances but since the constitution says it should be equal, it should be equal,” Mr. Nafada said.

He directed that the issue be included in the bill which was referred to the Committee of the Whole for consideration.

No member of the House opposed Mr Nafada.

Read More: http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/National/5518470-146/lawmakers_want_equal_allowances_with_ministers.csp

Yar'adua has not been around and these idiots dont see it not in line with the constitution except for their pay

God help us from our greedy so called leaders

Nigeria is in ruins because of these greedy old fools and they are still fighting for money.