The federal government’s annual spend of N27.47 billion on senators’ remuneration packages has raised eyebrows, especially considering the country’s low revenue and mounting economic crisis.
The pay package amount is 1,861% higher than the approved remuneration by the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMFAC).
On Wednesday, Senator Sumaila Kawu, representing Kano South, revealed that he earns over N21 million monthly, which is in stark contrast to the RMFAC-approved remuneration of N1.06 million per month.
Speaking in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service, he said, “The amount of salary received per month is less than N1 million. If there are cuts, it comes back to about N600,000. In the Senate, each senator is given N21m every month as the cost of running his office.”
In reaction, the Nigeria Labour Congress has expressed dissatisfaction with the N21 million earnings, describing it as unfair, especially when compared to the N70,000 minimum wage earned by workers.
The Head of Information NLC, Benson Upah, said, “It is unfair if senator earnings are huge while the Nigerian worker depend on hope. Some social inequality must be addressed”.
When asked if the N70,000 minimum wage agreed upon by Organised Labour was the best possible deal, considering that a senator’s monthly salary is equivalent to the wages of 300 workers, Upah said, “N70,000 was not what we started with. We started with N615,000 and we broke it down, but government counter offers were not broken down. The reason for that was obvious, the government could not justify what it was counter-offering.
“What they counter-offered was hideously miserable. On accepting the N70,000 we decided to cut a deal and walk away. Because when you do not cut a deal, you walk away with nothing. But when you do, you can walk away with something and tomorrow you could come back to continue with the struggle.
“We decided to cut a deal when we found out it was necessary. But it was not just the N70,000 we took along with us, rather the fact that we could now start discussing a new minimum wage in two years because the circle has been reduced from five to three years, given we are already in use of a year”.
Economic experts have also faulted the disparity between the senators’ earnings and the high levels of poverty in the country. President of the New Dimension Shareholders Association (NDSA), Mr. Patrick Ajudua, described the situation as “very unfortunate.”
