By Afolabi Samuel Odunayo
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar, has criticized members of the House of Representatives for their decision to slash their salaries by 50 percent for six months.
In a post on X, Atiku condemned the move, urging lawmakers to cut their allowances instead of their salaries.
He argued that the country can no longer afford to borrow to fund government irresponsibility.
“The demons are in allowances and not salaries. There’s too much wastage and prioritisation of non-essential expenditures. What we want is an across-the-board cut in expenses pork. We can no longer afford to borrow to fund irresponsibility in government,” he wrote.
Recall that on Thursday, the House adopted an amendment to a motion proposed by Deputy Speaker Benjamin Okezie Kalu, suggesting that lawmakers sacrifice half of their N600,000 monthly salaries to support Nigerians.
According to Kalu, it was stated that the salary cut aims to aid the federal government’s efforts to address the rising cost of foodstuffs and alleviate hardship in the country.
The motion was adopted and referred to the committees on Humanitarian Affairs, Finance, and Budget for compliance.
With each member contributing N300,000, the legislative chamber will provide N108 million monthly and N648 million over six months to the Federal Government.
