Senator Sumaila Kawu, representing Kano South, has disclosed that his monthly earnings surpass ₦21 million. In a recent interview with BBC Hausa Service, Kawu explained that while the official salary, as determined by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation, and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), is set at ₦1 million, it reduces to approximately ₦600,000 after deductions. However, additional allowances increase their total monthly income to ₦21 million....For More READ THE FULL STORY▶▶
His remarks came just a day after RMAFC clarified that each of the 109 senators in the upper chamber receives a total of ₦1.06 million in salary and allowances per month. The clarification was made by RMAFC Chairman Mohammed Shehu in response to ongoing debates surrounding the earnings of lawmakers.
During the BBC Hausa interview, Kawu stated, “The monthly salary is less than ₦1 million. After deductions, it’s around ₦600,000. However, each senator receives ₦21 million every month to cover office expenses.”
The senator mentioned that these allowances cover office operations, newspaper subscriptions, local travel, and other costs.
This revelation follows recent comments by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who criticized National Assembly members for their allowances. Speaking in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, while hosting a delegation of House of Representatives members led by Ikenga UgoChinyere, Obasanjo expressed concern over the practice of lawmakers determining their own pay and allowances.
He said, “With all due respect, you are not supposed to set your own salaries. But you decide what you pay yourselves, including various allowances like newspaper allowances. You allocate all sorts of perks to yourselves, and you know it’s wrong. It’s immoral, yet you continue doing it, and the Senate does the same, boasting about it. In some cases, the executive grants you amounts you’re not entitled to, like the ₦200 million each of you received.”
In response, the lawmakers asserted that RMAFC is responsible for setting their allowances.
The controversy surrounding the allowances of federal lawmakers gained attention when former Kaduna Central Senator Shehu Sani revealed that each senator in the 8th Senate, where he served from 2015-2019, received a monthly running cost of ₦13.5 million, in addition to the ₦750,000 monthly salary set by the commission..…For More READ THE FULL STORY▶▶
