N21m running cost for senator illegal, contemptuous, says Falana
20 August 2024 |
1:34 am
Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has accused the National Assembly of contempt and illegality following revelations that senators receive a monthly running cost of N21 million.
Even N29m not enough, Abbo argues
Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has accused the National Assembly of contempt and illegality following revelations that senators receive a monthly running cost of N21 million.
He condemned the federal legislators’ decision to increase their monthly allowances from N14 million to N21 million, describing the move as illegal and contemptuous.
But Elisha Abbo, who represented Adamawa North in the red chamber, said on Arise Television that even N29 million is not enough for a senator’s running cost monthly.
The controversy surrounding lawmakers’ earnings began in March 2018 when Senator Shehu Sani exposed the massive salaries and allowances enjoyed by federal legislators. He disclosed that each Senator received N13.5 million monthly as a running cost in addition to a consolidated salary of over N750,000.
This prompted civil society organisations, including the Socioeconomic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and Enough is Enough (EiE), to file lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of these payments. The cases culminated in the 2021 ruling that invalidated the self-determined salaries of the National Assembly.
“In a landmark judgment delivered on June 4, 2021, in the consolidated suits, the trial judge, Justice Chuka Obiozor, declared that the Senate, the House of Representatives and the National Assembly Service Commission have no power, close or semblance of power and cannot determine, direct, command and/or instruct the 2nd defendant (RMAFC)) or any person howsoever, to make, determine and/or fix the salaries, wages, remuneration, running cost or allowances of the 3rd and 4th defendants,” Falana stated.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) lamented that despite the court order, the leadership of the National Assembly disregarded the ruling by further inflating senators’ running costs, saying that this is not only illegal but a blatant contempt of court.
He added: “In utter contempt of the orders of the Federal High Court, the present leadership of the National Assembly increased the salaries and allowances of a senator from N14 million to N21 million per month.”
He further highlighted the inconsistencies between the 2024 Appropriation Act and the alleged payments, stressing that there is no provision whatsoever for a monthly payment of N21 million running costs to every senator.
“Since the running cost was not fixed by the RMAFC, it is unconstitutional and contemptuous of the valid and subsisting order of the Federal High Court,” Falana said.
He, therefore, called on the National Assembly to comply with the court ruling and adjust the senators’ remuneration to reflect the country’s economic reality.
ABBO said while he was at the Senate, his salaries, allowances and running costs put together amounted to N14.4 million. He said the sum was not enough to address the challenges being faced by his constituents in the North-East state.
“It is about N29 million now, which looks big on paper – I am saying this as an honest man and I am not trying to support the National Assembly, an institution so vilified, and I was a member of that vilified institution for five years, but I will bare the facts on the table. It (N29 million) is not humongous.”
NOW
Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has accused the National Assembly of contempt and illegality following revelations that senators receive a monthly running cost of N21 million.
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