Ahead of their seven-week recess, each serving senator smiled home with not less than N2 million as allowance.
Quoting a senator who preferred anonymity, because he was not authorised by the senate to speak on the matter, PREMIUM TIMES reports that all the 109 senators were paid the allowance for the holidays, which commenced on Monday and ends on 26 September.
A calculation done by the online medium showed that the senators were paid a total of N218 million, having received N2 million each to enjoy the vacation.
The bank confirmations were received by the senators on 8 August, just before the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced it.
Announcing the largesse on Monday, Akpabio told the senators that some money had been credited to their accounts to enjoy their holidays.
Speaking shortly after screening and confirming the ministerial nominees, the Senate president said: “In order to enable all of us to enjoy our holidays, a token has been sent to our various accounts by the Clerk of the National Assembly.”
After being informed that he was speaking on live television by his colleagues, he quickly announced its withdrawal and rephrased his statement, saying that the senate president sent prayers to the mailboxes of the senators.
His words: “I withdraw that statement. In order to allow you to enjoy your holiday, the senate president has sent prayers to your mailboxes to assist you to go on a safe journey and return.”
From The New Diplomat checks, it’s unclear if the presiding officers, namely the senate president and the deputy senate president, also got N2 million each going by the difference in salaries and allowances they earn and those of the other senators in the remuneration package approved by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).
Also, it is expected that the principal officers would earn higher allowances than their colleagues.
There are eight principal officers, with the majority party, APC, having four and the minority, comprising the six opposition parties, also having four.
The principal officers are the senate leader, deputy senate leader, chief whip and deputy chief whip.
There are also minority leader, deputy minority leader, minority whip and deputy minority whip.
The N2 million allowance given to the senators is has spawned considerable controversy because it is widely seen as illegal as no such provision is made in the remuneration package approved by RMAFC, the body authorised by law to prepare salaries and allowances for public servants.
There is also no provision for “token” in the commission’s document, as stated by Mr Akpabio while announcing the largesse to the senators.
The lawmakers are, however, entitled to “recess” allowance under the law, which is 10 per cent of the annual basic salary of each legislator, and is paid once a year.
According to the package prepared by RMAFC, a senator earns N2,026,400 and therefore gets N202,240 as a recess allowance per annum.
The basic salary of the senate president per annum is N2,483,242, and therefore receives N248,424 as recess allowance.
On his part, the deputy senate president earns N2,309,166, and his recess allowance is N230,916.
