After several attempts to ascertain the true remuneration of Nigeria lawmakers, Civil society organisations, including Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, will on Thursday meet with the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, to discuss the earning of lawmakers.
The Deputy Director of SERAP, Adewale Timothy, said in a statement on Wednesday that the meeting is at the instance of the Senate President, who had indicated his intention to clear the air on the perennial controversy surrounding the lawmakers’ earnings.
The Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), had recently claimed that “a Nigerian senator gets N29m in monthly pay, and over N3bn a year.”
Following this, SERAP had written to Saraki, asking him to either confirm Sagay’s claim or give the true position of things.
In reaction to the development, the Special Adviser to Saraki on New Media, Mr. Bamikole Omishore, had said on Sunday in Abuja that the Senate wished to meet with SERAP and other CSOs to give the details of lawmakers’ earning.
“The attention of the office of the President of the Senate has been drawn to demand for more details regarding the earnings of senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Having released the breakdown of the National Assembly budget, the most comprehensive in the history of Nigerian Senate, it seems the release of pay slips is yet to clarify earnings of Nigerian senators.
“The Senate President has agreed to a round-table with SERAP and other CSOs to enlighten them and answer genuine questions regarding the matter. I will make contact with SERAP and other CSOs for a date convenient for all parties in the next few days,” Omishore was quoted to have said.
Adewale said SERAP welcomed the invitation and would send representatives to Abuja to meet with Saraki and “use the opportunity of the face-to-face meeting to ask pertinent questions and seek detailed information and clarifications on the exact salaries and allowances that each senator receives monthly or yearly.”
SERAP had in its letter to Saraki said that “the sky will not fall” if the true earnings of the lawmakers were disclosed.
It said,“It is by making transparency a guiding principle of the National Assembly that the Senate can regain the support of their constituents and public trust, and contribute to ending the country’s damaging reputation for corruption.
“Transparency is a fundamental attribute of democracy, a norm of human rights, a tool to promote political and economic prosperity and to curb corruption. For the Senate, practising transparency should start with the leadership being open to Nigerians on the salaries and allowances of members.
“SERAP strongly believes that it is by knowing exactly how much their lawmakers earn as salaries and allowances that members of the National Assembly can remain accountable to Nigerians and our citizens can be assured that neither fraud nor government waste is concealed.
