₦airaland Forum

Lawmakers are not the only political and public office holders whose allowances far outstrip their salaries, Saturday PUNCH can authoritatively reveal.

Investigation by our correspondent shows that ministers and presidential aides are also entitled to allowances more than six times higher than their annual salaries.

Analysis by our correspondent on Thursday showed that each minister is entitled to 15 types of allowances. Each presidential aide is also entitled to 15 allowances.

The annual allowances of each minister that are monetised is N12,678,764 as against an annual salary of N2,026,400 while monetised allowances of each presidential aide is N12,142,968.75 as against an annual salary of N1,942,875.

Ministers and presidential aides receive similar allowances. These include regular and irregular allowances. The regular allowances are those which values are paid on monthly basis and include motor vehicle fuelling and maintenance, special assistant, and personal assistant.

Others are domestic workers, entertainment, utilities, security and newspapers/periodical allowances.

The irregular allowances are those that are paid at periods other than monthly and range from annual payments to once in four years. Some others are paid whenever they occur irrespective of the period and how many times they occur.

These irregular allowances include accommodation, furniture, duty tour, estacode, medical, severance/gratuity and leave.

The allowances are specified in the remuneration package of political, public and judicial office holders prepared by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission and passed into law in 2007 by the National Assembly.

The allowances are calculated as percentages of the annual salaries. While some are more than 100 per cent of the salaries, others are much lower than 100 per cent.

For a minister, the motor vehicle fuelling and maintenance is 75 per cent of the annual salary. Personal assistant is 25 per cent; domestic staff, 75 per cent; entertainment, 45 per cent; utilities, 30 per cent; newspapers/periodicals, 15 per cent.

Accommodation is 200 per cent; furniture, 300 per cent; severance/gratuity, 300 per cent and leave allowance, 10 per cent. The same percentages apply to the presidential aides.

In monetary terms, a minister gets N1,519,800 for motor vehicle fuelling and maintenance; N506,600 for personal assistant; N1,519,800 for domestic staff; N911,880 for entertainment; N607,920 for utilities; and N303, 960 for newspapers/periodicals.

Accommodation allowance is paid once a year and amounts to N4, 052,800 for a minister. Furniture allowance which is paid once in four years is N6, 079,200. On an annual basis, this comes down to N1, 519,800. Severance/gratuity is paid at the conclusion of tenure and is N6, 079,200 and on an annual basis, it also comes down to N1, 519,800 for a tenure of four years.

The duty tour allowance of a minister is N35, 000 per night while the estacode is $900 per night. These two allowances have no fixed time for payment and therefore are paid when they occur. Medical, special assistant and security allowances are not paid in cash. They are provided for by the government.

A presidential aide gets N1, 457,156.25 for motor vehicle fuelling and maintenance; N485, 718.75 for personal assistant; N1, 457,156.25 for domestic staff; N874, 293.75 for entertainment; N582, 862.50 for utilities; and N291, 431.25 for newspapers/periodicals.

For a presidential aide, accommodation is also paid once a year and amounts to N3, 885,750. Furniture allowance which is paid once in four years is N5, 828,625. On an annual basis, this comes down to N1, 457,156.25.

Severance/gratuity is paid at the conclusion of the tenure and is N5, 828,625 and on an annual basis also comes down to N1, 457,156.25. A tenure of four years is assumed.

The duty tour allowance of a presidential aide is N25, 000 per night while the estacode is $800 per night. Just like for the minister, these two allowances have no fixed time for payment and therefore are paid when they occur.

Medical, special assistant and security allowances are also not paid in cash. They are provided for by the government.

In theory, the minister is entitled to a motor vehicle loan of N8, 105,600 while a presidential aide is entitled to a vehicle loan of N7, 771,500. This loan is repayable before the expiration of the tenure.

This is because under the monetisation policy of the government, public officials are not entitled to vehicle as it has been monetised.

The fact, however, is that they have several official vehicles and drivers at their disposal and do not have to resort to taking the motor vehicle loan except they need the money for other needs.

There are also other categories of public office holders that are placed on the same scale of salary and allowances with ministers. These are the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Head of Service and Chairmen of Constitutional Bodies.

he Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, in a letter written to the All Progressives Congress, said his hands were tied with regard to the selection of principal officers of the upper chamber. This was contained in a Friday report on www.thecable.ng.

The National Chairman of APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, had on June 23, written to Saraki, stating the party’s choice of principal officers of the senate.

The APC had nominated Ahmad Lawan as senate majority leader, George Akume as deputy majority leader, Olusola Adeyeye as chief whip, and Abu Ibrahim as deputy chief whip. However, Saraki, on Thursday, announced Ali Ndume as majority leader, Bala Na’Allah as deputy majority leader and Francis Alimikhena as deputy chief whip after the various APC senate caucuses nominated them.

In his letter dated June 25, Saraki was said to have explained to the party that the APC senate caucuses had already taken a decision on the matter before he received Odigie-Oyegun’s letter.

Saraki’s letter read, “The said letter (Oyegun’s letter) was received after various APC zonal caucuses had taken their decisions to candidates as principal officers of the senate in line with parliamentary convention and the extant provisions of the senate standing orders 2015 as amended.”

The Senate President said, “Furthermore, whilst one is strongly persuaded to toe party line and act in accordance with the suggested party position, regrettably clear provisions of our extant rules and standard parliamentary convention have not given me that leeway to act otherwise.

“Therefore, my hands are tied in the circumstances and I seek your understanding in this regard.”

However, he added that without equivocation he remained “loyal to our great party and its leadership and also fully committed to the change agenda of the Mr. President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

Meanwhile, the APC in Ondo State has said that the party is not to blame for the leadership crisis in the National Assembly.

The party said Saraki, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, should be blamed for the division in the party.

The party’s Publicity Secretary in Ondo State, Omo’ba Adesanya, in a statement on Friday,   stressed that the party had played its role by giving directives and that it was left for the leadership of the Assembly to follow such directives.

The statement partly read, “The party leadership had, after an exhaustive meeting with governors and executive members of the National Assembly, issued a directive, but Saraki and Dogara refused to carry out the directives.

“Instead of doing that, they connived with the Peoples Democratic Party members in the Assembly to realise their personal ambitions.

“As principal officers representing APC in the National Assembly, they are expected to carry out the party’s directives in terms of who occupies the positions.

“Therefore, Nigerians should hold Saraki and Dogara responsible for the crisis rocking the National Assembly. They are working against the party that sponsored them by initiating an unholy alliance with the PDP to truncate the ‘change’ that the people expect.”

chukwudi44:
That man is simply greedy!!!Saraki has always been touted as been over-ambitious but that is the very description of Tinubu.He has tried ato imort his local amala godfatherism into national politics and has been beaten blue black.Serves him right.His political decimation will serve as a lesson for years to come for future Nigerian political actors

bettercreature:
Its getting serious every day and now Nigeria must be on hold for another 4 weeks
I'm beginning to dislike PMB this man seems too weak and he is cause APC so much pain

cy4cent:
Oooooohhhh, so all is not well even in PDP , n they have been laughing at APC?


Bunch of hypocrites !!!!

They can kill themselves for all we care but they should realise that some people can see through their ruse of distracting Nigerians from further agitation about their ridiculous & insenstive Jumbo pay...

By the time they reconvene in 4 weeks time, they would have been paid & the fight will be meaningless.. Bunch of greedey M0FOs!!! >:

woaini:
I got baby's birthcert 48hours after birth I called the county went there and got it for 23dols each. The SSN card came in the mail in less than 2weeks. I booked an appointment at the dallas passport office went there waited and got the passport same day. They accepted the consent letter I notorised before I traveled
For the Nigerian passport I was trying to do it myself but when I realized I was running out of time I contacted one of the agents mentioned here. By God's grace I was able to get all the documents and left exactly 3weeks after birth.
My hosts were even surprised at how I knew what to do at different points in time they don't know I used the nairaland/tvegas magic, lol
Thanks y'all. I am addicted to the thread so I dey ground

zik4ever:
Apologies. Didn’t know that the Senate also adjourned. It doesn’t speak well for the APC/Government because they are one and the same -they should put their house in order and not hold Nigerians hostage. They had since the elections, to tidy up all these and hit the ground running. Anyway, I tell you what, on a lighter note it remind me of school days then in the North. We knew that any opportunity, there are some seasons when it was "strategic" to go on holiday. As it, these people have gone on holiday till after the expected public holidays around 17-19 July!

zik4ever:
Nope! Only the Senate screens and confirms ministerial appointments.

helovesme:
oh ok. I never knew this is the way it works. i naively assumed it was my mum's responsibility.

my MIL hasn't made any travel arrangements to come or spoken to me about it and neither has DH said anything. Instead, she went ahead to schedule a wedding for one of her other kids around my EDD. *sighs*

helovesme:
i have a question oh

in yoruba culture, who is traditionally expected to come around after the birth of a child? the wife's mother or the husband's mother?

helovesme:
Its a delight to see a brutally honest pregnant woman for a change

I did'nt do the whole spitting thing from day 1 till date and i am so thankful for that. However, i went through the whole throwing up, etc during my first 12 weeks. at a point, i was like 'kai.na who send me work i should have just heeded DH's advice and waited for one year'. imagine going from honeymoon phase to throwing up phase in less than 8weeks. my main 'vexation' is my nose. it has tripled in size. no jokes Have you got any tips on how I can reduce it?

I have also suffered heartburn but i discovered that sucking on 'trebor' really relieves me. so now i wake up at odd hours and suck on trebor mints and i get almost instant relief. You should try it.

I tap into the annointing of non-fussy babies oooooooo.

nunzk:
Wrong @ last taste. He broke his father's grip once so do not underestimate his maturity in THE GAME.quote author=modath post=35123207]

conyema12:
Am sorry to say that APC as a Party was built on the foundation of lies.
Such a party will not stand the test of time.
This can be seen in the present day House of Assembly.
Most of their assertions are deceitful.I know the previous administration did carry out some level of financial recklessness. However l feel APC should be more objective in their publicity and claims.

”At the end of the day, the investigation may even show that there were no malpractices in the award of the contracts. We can hear the motion and allow the investigation to be carried out,” the speaker ruled.
The motion was later passed in a majority voice vote.

bodejohn:
I am still looking for the interest of the average Nigerian in all of this scheming...

proudmom38:
My dear maternity gown is a no go area 4 me too,infact I hate d sight of it...But sis,never say never! Remember,bus fit carry u pass ur BUS STOP atimes o!Lol

wumee1:
@May you all deliver safely in Jesus name,I mean like the Hebrew women,I mean before you get to delivery room in Jesus name.Am seriously hungry to join you pregnant mamas,and I know He will do it soooooooon.

Jennifer89:
i just started wearing undies coz of the discharge am having but pull it off at night. Howz baby kicking? mine wake up in the middle of the night to dance o! Lol. how are u copping with the restless leg syndrome?

lalasticlala:
How sure ?? Did any other person hear him say that?

mamafresh:
Hello mamas greetings to u all, just ported from TTC am 6weeks gone. May we all carry to full term Insha Allah. #teamfeb

liberty300:
yes, I do. I wear a lot of traditional attire bought from the local markets and tailored by local tailors..thanks