Governors earn much more than senators – Peter Obi

Former Governor Peter Obi has weighed in on the ongoing debate over the jumbo package of senators

The former governor disclosed that governors earn much more; and that there would be outrage if he disclosed the actual amount

Obi stated that he was speaking out because he did not want mistakes of yesterday to be repeated today

Peter Obi, the former governor of Anambra state, has disclosed that governors take home much more as allowances, than senators, Vanguard reports.

He made the disclosure at the dialogue organised by the Ripples Centre for Data and Investigative Journalism in Lagos.

NAIJ.com gathers that the former governor stated that there would be more outrage if he revealed how much governors earn.

In his words: “None of you know what a governor earns, quote me anywhere. If you know, you won’t be here. It is something you can’t imagine. You just know the salary of senators, and you are shouting, but what if you know that of the governors?”

Obi stated that public officers in America earn modest salaries, adding: “America’s GDP is way above Nigeria’s but an American senator earns $174,000 (about N50 million) a year and you can imagine what his Nigerian counterpart earns in a month.

“In America, governors earn according to their states. The governor of California is the highest paid in America, and he earns $192,000. The smallest state earns $70,000.

“But in Nigeria, I can tell you because I’ve been there, the cost of just keeping convoys alone is in millions. And when people ask me why am I saying these things, I tell them that even if we made mistakes yesterday, can’t we correct it today?

“What is the essence of a bulletproof car? Anyone who wants to kill you would come when you are out of the car. For eight years, I didn’t use it, and they didn’t kill me.”

Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously reported that President Muhammadu Buhari was urged by foremost human rights lawyer Femi Falana (SAN), to stop the jumbo salaries and allowances of federal legislators.

Falana opined that the revelations by Senator Shehu Sani on the remuneration package for senators, provides an opportunity for Nigerians to review the cost of governance.

He said that Sani’s revelation should provide an opportunity for the Nigerian people to review the entire costs of governance under this democratic dispensation which he described as rickety.

Courtesy: NAIJ