Controversy: Senator reveals he earns N21m monthly

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Senator Sumaila Kawu, representing Kano South Senatorial District, has disclosed that senators, like him, each earn a total take-home monthly pay of N21 million, including salary and allowance.

Senator Kawu, who spoke in an interview with BBC Hausa on Wednesday, August 14, said the official pay package was fixed by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).

According to him, “My monthly salary is less than N1million. After deductions, the figure comes down to a little over N600,000. Given the increase effected, in the Senate, each senator gets a million every month as running cost,” he said.

He said allowances included office running, newspaper, and local travel, among others.

His position came barely 24 hours after the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) disclosed that each of the 109 senators received N1.06 million salary and allowances monthly.

The Chairman of RMAFC, Mohammed Shehu, had spoken in response to the controversies about the real amount each lawmaker earns per month.

He said every lawmaker earned N12.72 million yearly while the Federal Government provided N1.4 billion for all 109 senators yearly.

Indeed, former President Olusegun Obasanjo had tackled members of the National Assembly on the allowances they get each month.

Obasanjo said, “In your case, with all due respect, you’re not supposed to fix your salaries. But you decide what you pay yourself, the allowances that you give yourselves including newspaper allowances.

“You give yourselves all sorts of things, and you know it is not right. It is immoral, yet you are doing it, the Senate is doing it, and you are beating your chests about it.”

The lawmakers, in their response to the former president, had said the RMAFC fixed their allowances.

Giving a breakdown of the monthly earnings by each senator, the RAMFC’s chairman stated that a monthly salary and allowances of N1,063,860, consisting of a basic salary, N168,866:70; motor vehicle fuelling and maintenance allowance, N126,650:00; and personal assistant, N42,216:66.