A report has revealed that members of the House of Representatives misled the public about their monthly salaries.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that the federal lawmakers during a plenary session on July 18 claimed to earn N600,000. The lawmakers had during the session pledged to donate half of their salaries, which they claimed to be N300,000 each to combat hunger in Nigeria.
However, an investigation by the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) has uncovered a web of deceit on the part of the lawmakers.
Evidence obtained from the Revenue Mobilisation Fiscal Commission (RMFAC), the government agency responsible for the remuneration of political office holders, shows that the actual monthly salary of a House of Representatives member is a whopping N794,086 – significantly higher than their claimed amount.
Furthermore, FIJ said a Channels Television interview with Uzokwe Ifeanyi, a lawmaker representing Nnewi South Federal Constituency, on Thursday revealed a screengrab of his July salary notification, exposing a monthly earnings of N936,979.53.
This means that if lawmakers were to donate 50% of their actual salaries, they would contribute a substantial N168.7 million monthly, totalling around N1 billion over six months.
The report also exposed that lawmakers earn more than a million Naira monthly, made possible by additional benefits including accommodation, furniture, severance packages, medical allowances, recess allowances, and duty tour allowances totalling approximately N5.9 million monthly.
RMFAC records also show that lawmakers are entitled to supplementary allowances of around N5.9 million on a “to-be-processed” basis.
In addition to that, they receive millions of naira as “running costs” without any transparency on how these funds are utilized.
According to disclosures by several lawmakers, including former Senate President Ahmed Lawan, the monthly running cost stands at approximately N8.5 million.
Despite their pledge, the House of Representatives has failed to confirm if they have begun donating half of their salaries to fight hunger.
