Resist the legislators’ jumbo pay, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) urged the public on Tuesday as opinion leaders voiced outrage at the allowance of Senators which fetches Senate President David Mark alone N250 million quarterly or N83.33 million per month.
Senate Deputy President Ike Ekweremadu gets N150 million per quarter or N50 million a month.
Social Democratic Mega Party (SDMP) Chairman, Pat Utomi, described it as shocking; Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) founder, Fredrick Fasehun, called it indecent.
A member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Onibiyo Adelabu, said it is worrisome and may lead to a national tragedy.
Daily Independent reported exclusively on Tuesday that the Senate has allocated N1,024,000,000 as quarterly allowance to its 10 principal officers, known collectively as the Senate leadership.
Each of the eight other principal officers take home N78 million every three months or N26 million per month.
Besides, for this year, the Senate has voted N2.6 billion for local travel, N2.45 billion (foreign travel), N1.25 million (security), N2.28 billion (contingency), N750 million (guest houses for Mark and Ekweremadu), and N500 million (establishment of radio and television stations).
Former Ohanaeze President General, Dozie Ikedife; former Aviation Minister, Mbazurike Amaechi; and former Anambra State Governor, Chukwuemeka Ezeife; all called for a mass protest against the rip off.
Ikedife said: “This is a state of inverted pyramid. How can people be collecting such amount of money and they go to buy garri and rice in the same market with the masses?
“If the masses get to know about this there will be an uprising. What laws have they been able to make for the country that is meaningful to us?
“When they collect such money they do not visit their constituencies any more. They would wait for another election and use the money to return themselves to the National Assembly. This is a shame and must be condemned.”
Amaechi, who was Minister in the First Republic, lamented that, “This was not the picture of Nigeria that we thought of while we fought for the independence. It is unfortunate that we have a bunch of thieves and Judases. They are a collection of looters.
“People go into public service to loot and cheat people while over 80 per cent of Nigerians are hungry and the communities suffer the absence of basic amenities.
“The amount is not just scandalous but criminal. The masses should rise up and defend their wealth which is being plundered by a collection of thieves in the name of legislators.
“Public service and political appointment have become a lucrative business venture where a very few people cheat their way to office and embezzle the money of the people with impunity. Nigerians should not allow themselves to be deceived by these thieves.”
Ezeife said it is “an indication that our political arrangement is extremely expensive. The leaders do not care about the led. They make themselves comfortable and others can go to hell.
“It is condemnable and unacceptable to Nigerians and this has to stop. This act of official criminality is a reproach on this nation and our leaders have become so shameless that they feel proud about what they do.
“We need to put the amount side by side with what they have been able to achieve since they became Senators. They should have a rethink on this matter. I can assure you that N250 million can do a lot for a community in terms of development.”
NBA National Publicity Secretary, Muritala Abdul-Rasheed, said the lawmakers are insensitive to the plight of the people and are not fit to represent anyone.
“They cannot be feeding fat on the wealth of the nation and at the same time ask the people to bear the economic crunch. These people are not worthy of their position.
“The NBA condemns the increase in quarterly allowance of federal legislators at a time of economic depression and national anxiety in the country,” he added.
Fasehun described the remuneration as outrageous and indecent, saying it is the height of depravity for lawmakers to earn such an amount when the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has been fighting to raise the minimum wage above N7,500 per month.
“This is a gross abuse of the Constitution. Clearly the Constitution saddles the executive with the responsibility of project implementation and the legislature with making laws for the good governance of the nation.
“So, the real question people should ask is: With the huge expenditure going into maintaining federal legislators, what has been their contribution to national development and the development of their local constituencies?
“Why should so-called constituency projects pass through federal legislators when executives in local governments, states and the Federal government perform these same tasks?” Fasehun queried.
Adelabu, the Lagos lawmaker, said: “Most of the things we hear about federal lawmakers are worrisome. They have to be very careful because what they are doing will be the beginning of a very great tragedy and we may not come out of it.
“If the only thing that people who are elected to represent the interest of others think about is sharing money, then we should be very careful. Our people should watch the kind of people they elect in 2011.
People tend to believe that the way they get money there is the same way those at the state level get it. Therefore, our people will want to be on our neck and want you to give them money believing that we are getting money the same way federal lawmakers are getting it.
“All the news I personally have been hearing about both the Senate and the House of Representatives is bad, and I don’t have any intention of getting there.
“Those people are not worthy of moving this country forward, so the people must use the instrument they have by not voting them.”
Utomi argued that a bicameral legislature is too expensive for Nigeria and the country does not even need full time lawmakers.
His words: “It is shocking that this legislature is costing this nation as much as 30 per cent of our national budget compared to the Second Republic legislature that cost under three per cent of the national budget.
“When we dare to put forth this figure to them, they respond by telling us that their spending is only a fraction of what the Presidency is spending on its various functionaries.
“This country does not need a full-time legislature. We only need a unicameral legislature that would meet for three or four weeks in a year and afterwards, they would go back to their various professions.
“All the legislations that would be needed for the whole year could be sorted out by this body that should not be more than 100 people.”
Utomi said the cost of running the legislature and other government businesses in Nigeria is 60 per cent of the national budget, far more than the cost of doing the same thing in some advanced countries with more buoyant economies.
On Tuesday, the Senate issued a statement which did not deny the report of the jumbo allowance, but simply alleged a plot to destalise the Upper Chamber.
The statement, issued by Information and Media Committee Chairman, Ayogu Eze, said: “The Senate has uncovered a plot by some individuals to destabilise the Red Chamber by sponsoring some spurious write-ups in some of Nigeria’s national dailies.
“These people are unhappy about the peace and stability in the Senate, and the leadership it has provided in nurturing and deepening our democracy.
“We wish to assure Nigerians that these tales by the moonlight bear no resemblance to the truth whatsoever.
“We also wish to inform Nigerians that we shall launch full inquiry into the source of this unprovoked assault on the institution of the Nigerian Senate.
“Meanwhile, we urge editors of Nigerian media organisations to always cross-check so-called scoops from their field men before printing or airing them. “

http://www.independentngonline.com/DailyIndependent/Article.aspx?id=15429

Please,how can we kill these people en masse?Seriously!!

83 fucking million monthly? And we have national minimum wage of 7,500 for worker? God please deliver your judgement.

No wonder they will kill their mama to achieve such position. Bunches of criminals.

This  same govt claims it cant pay the arrears of the new doctors salary from january but the truth is the deputy senate presidents monthly allowance can pay the arrears of 125 doctors in the service.The senate presidents allowance is enough to buy a brand new MRI or CT machine.It can buy about 10 good quality ultrasound machines.It can go a long way in upgrading our operating theatres.It can get us enough brand new,well equipped ambulances.
It can get us a good number of defibrillators meaning  more than a 50% reduction in mortality in our teaching hospitals.
It can build an average of 2-3  standard health centres with the basic paracetamol for headache and routine drugs for antenatal patients.

Lord have mercy on us!!

phantom:

Please,how can we kill these people en masse?Seriously!!

only if we adopt a violent protest akin to that of thailand and greece.

Welcome to Nigeria - Land of Looters

~Bluetooth:

only if we adopt a violent protest akin to that of thailand and greece.

lol is that what you call voilent?

We need to get OPC and MEND boys to Abuja mack10s and Uzi then stand outside Transcorp Hotel or Abuja Airport

I wonder what labour is doing about all this, shouldnt tehy be fighter for higher pay for their members instead of collecting bribes from some oil marketers?

Well, well, well, what can I say?

and I bet they will people who will come on here are justify this nonsense.


Listen, we can cry as much as we want, as long as Nigerians are not willing to fight for thier country, such thieves will continue to steal with impunity. These people are not challenged, we come here are make mouth, but when time comes for us to demonstrate peacefully, a lot of us will back out.

We as a  people are not serious about moving our country forward if we were believe me, David Mark will be begging to be paid the minimum wage.

The beginning of the end!
Otitan (the end)
Its revolution now or never!

Dis Guy:

lol is that what you call voilent?

We need to get OPC and MEND boys to Abuja mack10s and Uzi then stand outside Transcorp Hotel or Abuja Airport

I wonder what labour is doing about all this, shouldnt tehy be fighter for higher pay for their members instead of collecting bribes from some oil marketers?

it doesnt necessarily mean people should carry arms to revolt but a strong protest against bad leadership and corruption would definitely attract both local and international audience.the issue is that nobody even mend and opc members want make sacrifice for this country.
the last time we heard of such was during the june 12 where thousands of people were killed during protests and to this day,no such has happened again.if nigerians start to complain and take action on the inabilities of their leaders,only then we can see changes in this country.

@Bluetooth,

You talk am well. We as a people are very good at sitting back and complaining, but we are never ready to do what it takes to change things. David Mark and his fellow thieve know that, and quite frankly they are taking the advantage of a very meek people. How can the senate President earn more than the american president , even when he has not done a single thing.

Was he not the same peroson who was in charge when Nigeria was without a leader for months? was it not these same senators that could not move the country forward when we needed them to? In a country were unemployment is in excess of %20, how can they justify this kind of lavish lifestyle, when the whole country is in darkness.

Can you all see where our priorities lie? the common man in Nigeria, has not healthcare, food, shelter, water, schools (no matter how bad), transport, security, absolutely nothing. and in and age of extreme global credit squeeze, we have politicians paying themselves this sort of money.

monkeyleg:

@Bluetooth,

You talk am well. We as a people are very good at sitting back and complaining, but we are never ready to do what it takes to change things. David Mark and his fellow thieve know that, and quite frankly they are taking the advantage of a very meek people. How can the senate President earn more than the american president , even when he has not done a single thing.

Was he not the same peroson who was in charge when Nigeria was without a leader for months? was it not these same senators that could not move the country forward when we needed them to? In a country were unemployment is in excess of %20, how can they justify this kind of lavish lifestyle, when the whole country is in darkness.

Can you all see where our priorities lie? the common man in Nigeria, has not healthcare, food, shelter, water, schools (no matter how bad), transport, security, absolutely nothing. and in and age of extreme global credit squeeze, we have politicians paying themselves this sort of money.

those mo.rons dont give a damn about the common.the middle class id gradually eroding because of the low cost of living ,high standard of living and a high inflation rate.nigerians should rise to the challenge if not our thieving politicians would assume all is well with the common man

~Bluetooth:

it doesnt necessarily mean people should carry arms to revolt [b]but a strong protest against bad leadership and corruption would definitely attract both local and international audience.the issue is that nobody even mend and opc members want make sacrifice for this country.[/b]the last time we heard of such was during the june 12 where thousands of people were killed during protests and to this day,no such has happened again.if nigerians start to complain and take action on the inabilities of their leaders,only then we can see changes in this country.

I tottally agree with you,  there should be like a full two weeks or more of general strike, organised by all union except perhaps the medical/nursing union.

@Bluetooth,

They really believe all is well with the common man and cant understand what all the fuss is about. I once met the daughter of a former VP, we got talking and at that time, I said to her that a tuba of yam cost about #90, she vehimently disagreed, she just wouldnt accept the figure, I mean we spent a good 10mins debating the issue, finally I gave up after realising that they as a family were so far removed from reality. They really do not grasp the true cost and standard of living in Nigeria. Most of them never really go to the market, so such real figures appeared really strange.

Look, I have spent a life time debating the Nigerian issue, of why we must act and act soon. Why a better Nigeria means prosperity for all of us, and why it remains a collective, sustained, and sacrificial effort that is needed by all. It is not a one man job. The fixing of Nigeria is far from being a one man job. And why if we do not act yesterday, it will definitely comeback and hunt us all today. Even those who dont feel that they have a part to play, truly do not understand the process of nation building, and how we are all collectively responsible. It is not about me or you, but about us. You wait till it starts affecting someone you know, even our kids are not immune from this rubbish.

Maybe someday, we will have the intelligence to properly analyse how half a century of extremely bad leadership has shaped and affected us as a people. Just maybe

Dis Guy:


I tottally agree with you,  there should be like a full two weeks or more of general strike, organised by all union except perhaps the medical/nursing union.

that is if the police would allow such strikes to take place.strikes work better if there is a unity of purpose among all the unions.compromise has always been a major challenge in organising strike actions.targeting the critical section of the economy with it is not a bad idea though

we do not need full time legislators.
our greatest source of waste of resources is our democracy.
government as we practice it is way too expensive and unproductive.
very soon,something's got to give.

They should be made to refund their loot

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-456278.0.html

mbulela:

we do not need full time legislators.
our greatest source of waste of resources is our democracy.
government as we practice it is way too expensive and unproductive.
very soon,something's got to give.

i blame the same constitution that makes paliarmentary attendance optional.the house and senate only need one third to conduct sessions meaning that just 36 senators and 120 representatives are needed to conduct session out of 108/360 respectively.even at that the few in attendance do not add value to the development of this country.no doubt the presidential system is very expensive and corrupt but i dont know if we would fair well in a paliarmentary system due to the attitudes of our 'dis'honourables.

There is absolute lack of accountability in Nigeria. No audit no challenge. Take my state for instance, who actually audits the state governor and his commisioners. Who actually challenges what they spend the states money on. Where is the opposition? now there is new begining to filter through that he has stopped all work (that is if he did anything in the first place) in preparation for elections. Should the executive governor of a state allowed to do this? should he be allowed to hold a whole state to ransome (with our funds), because he plans on contesting the next election. Should people be allowed to do this. So you see this bad behaviour is not unique to the Senators, the whole system is damn rotten.

monkeyleg:

There is absolute lack of accountability in Nigeria. No audit no challenge. Take my state for instance, who actually audits the state governor and his commisioners. Who actually challenges what they spend the states money on. Where is the opposition? now there is new begining to filter through that he has stopped all work (that is if he did anything in the first place) in preparation for elections. Should the executive governor of a state allowed to do this? should he be allowed to hold a whole state to ransome (with our funds), because he plans on contesting the next election. Should people be allowed to do this. So you see this bad behaviour is not unique to the Senators, the whole system is damn rotten.

well said.the issue is that the legislative arm which ought to serve as a check and balance to the executive is tied to its knee just because he needs approval from the executive before it get things done.
the house of assemblies and the national assembly are the arms of govt charged with the duty of auditing and challenging the actions of the governors and president respectively but partisan politics have turned things upside thereby,allowing the governors and president to dictates to the lawmakers because the lawmakers need approval of the governors/president to get money.
I think we should have a new arm of government whose duty would be to monitor the activities of the executive.

@Bluetooth,

Na true. Guys let me introduce the National Audit Commision (NAC). Probably headed by Nasir El-Rufai or Ribadu. Lets starts from there

monkeyleg:

@Bluetooth,

Na true. Guys let me introduce the National Audit Commision (NAC). Probably headed by Nasir El-Rufai or Ribadu. Lets starts from there

no qualms about that provided it is totally an independent body with good vision.

monkeyleg:

@Bluetooth,

Na true. Guys let me introduce the National Audit Commision (NAC). Probably headed by Nasir El-Rufai or Ribadu. Lets starts from there

it goes beyond this, until past and present leaders are made to account for  misappropriated funds with very stiff penalty if they fail to, am afraid nothing will be achieved.

Back in school, my lecturer actually said there is something wrong with the black man. In this case, i believe he was referring to Nigerians

Then again, the average Nigerian has corruption following in his blood stream. #blameitonIBB

All these in your face show of stolen wealth is not helping matters either

"This is serious. Heads must roll." -------Bank-Ole, Head of Nigerian Legis[b]LOOTERS[/b].

Spineless and faceless Nigerians, always behind one computer spewing rubbish. All noise no action. Your mates are even ready to commit suicide for what they believe in and you are all there making noise. If you guys really meant what you are saying, just march on toward Abuja after all David Mark and co are not spirits or rather do us the favor of shutting up till your children are ready to take their destiny in their own hands. Noise makers

Chiddysville:

Spineless and faceless Nigerians, always behind one computer spewing rubbish. All noise no action. Your mates are even ready to commit suicide for what they believe in and you are all there making noise. If you guys really meant what you are saying, just march on toward Abuja after all David Mark and co are not spirits or rather do us the favor of shutting up till your children are ready to take their destiny in their own hands. Noise makers

let me tell you something.An average nigerian is NOT ready to mistakenly die for nigeria talkless of deliberately leading a revolt.the last time that happened was during june 12 and only God knows if a day would come when nigerians would die for their rights.

na only outrage, those guys dont care about outrage, they would get it, all they need is to make it "lawful". they have been getting away with N20m Xmas, Ileya bonus, etc etc, na today

Chiddysville:

Spineless and faceless Nigerians, always behind one computer spewing rubbish. All noise no action. Your mates are even ready to commit suicide for what they believe in and you are all there making noise. If you guys really meant what you are saying, just march on toward Abuja after all David Mark and co are not spirits or rather do us the favor of shutting up till your children are ready to take their destiny in their own hands. Noise makers

Since you are not spineless, why not lead the charge?