A progressive reduction has been made in the salaries of senators in response to the directive of the Senate president, Bukola Saraki who insisted that they must all make sacrifices with the existing economic realities facing the nation.
This was disclosed on Thursday, August 6, by the chairman, Senate adhoc committee on information, Senator Dino Melaye.
“The Senate president said we must sacrifice, as we cannot carry out proper oversight of the MDAs (ministries, departments and agencies) if we have not made proper sacrifice,” he said.
According to him, the finance committee set up by Saraki to review the salaries and allowances of lawmakers had submitted its report.
Melaye explained that the upper house will set up a re-evaluation and monitoring committee to monitor and track the progress of resolutions made by the Senate. This is to ensure that strict compliance and sanctions are applied accordingly when appropriate.
The senator added that the objective of the 8th Senate is to fight corruption and any senator involved in corrupt practices would be mad to face the full wrath of the law.
He further said the committee responsible for rolling out the legislative agenda of the 8th Senate would soon submit its report, which would pilot the affairs of the 8th Senate.
In June, the news that each senator receives N506,600 per annum as wardrobe allowance shocked Nigerians. An investigation also showed that senators’ allowances amounted to N18,642,880 annually. This quickly sparked reactions from Nigerians.
In response to the massive outcry against their huge salaries and entitlements, the upper chamber of the National Assembly had in June, inaugurated a committee that would review the salaries of lawmakers.
