NASS fails to disclose salaries, allowances, Adds N10bn to own budget

The National Assembly budget has failed to disclose how much each Nigerian federal lawmaker earns in salaries and allowances.

Although the budget was made public for the first time in seven years on Thursday, it however failed to disclose what each lawmaker takes home.

There are 469 federal legislators consisting of 109 senators and 360 members of the House of Representatives.

After seven years of secrecy, the National Assembly made its own budget public.

Prior to the disclosure, the budget of the National Assembly had been shrouded in secrecy, under a single line item in the national budget.

In a document seen by BusinessDay, a total of N125billion was budgeted for the National Assembly, N10billion higher than the N115billion budgeted in 2016.

The country is currently battling to exit economic recession.

The one-page document allocated the N125billion into 10 offices and three sub-headings: Total Personnel Costs, Total Overhead Costs as well Capital Expenditure.

Breakdown of the estimates showed that Management would get an allocation of N14,919,065,013, Senate N31,398,765,886, House of Representatives N49,052,743,983, National Assembly Service Commission N2,415,712,873 and Legislative Aides N9,602,095,928.

Others are: Public Accounts Committee (Senate) N118,970,215, Public Accounts Committee (House of Representatives) N142,764,258, General Services N12,584,672,079, National Assembly Legislative Institute N4,373,813,596 and Service Wide Vote N391,396,169.

Nigerians have been denied knowledge of the details of the finances of the National Assembly since 2010.

From N23.347 billion in 2003, the National Assembly’s budget was increased to N115 billion in 2016, representing over 492 percent rise in 13 years.

Also,  the document concealed details of capital expenditure as they were listed as single line item under the 10 offices.

A report by The Economist magazine in 2013 revealed that Nigerian federal legislators with a basic salary of $189,500 per annum (equivalent of N57.8million at an exchange rate of N305/$1) were the highest paid lawmakers in the world.

The report estimated the amount to be 52 percent higher than what Kenya legislators, who are the second highest paid lawmakers, earned.

Nigerians have expressed concern over the jumbo salary being paid the country’s legislators, with some calling for part-time legislature.