Nigerian legislators, among the world’s top paid, receive annual salaries of between $150,000 to $190,000 per annum depending on exchange rates. At current exchange rates Nigerian lawmakers, would earn around $160,000 more than British MPs who make around $105,000 according to data from The Economist. In fact, until plunging oil prices started putting pressure on the Nigerian naira earlier this year, the Nigerian lawmakers were the second highest paid lawmakers in the world.
The average legislators’ pay is more than 50 times Nigeria‘s GDP per capita. In a country where millions live on less than two dollars daily and minimum wage is set at $90 a month, the legislator’s bumper pay has been described as outrageous. The campaign for a cut in the National Assembly’s funds as a new government comes in is fitting as President Buhari, who will earn less than the lawmakers, has a reputation for being modest and austere.
The main thrust of the #OpenNASS campaign is for the National Assembly
to open its books to allow for an assessment of its finances and
possibly advocate for cuts particularly in a period of financial
uncertainties which has seen the country struggle to pay salaries.
Between 2011 and 2014, the National Assembly received N150 billion
yearly but will receive N120 billion in 2015 according to the recently
passed 2015 budget. BudgIT’s estimation also shows that since 1999, the
National Assembly has received about N1.26 trillion yet there has been
little accountability.
But all that could be change soon as the #OpenNASS campaign has won significant support from Bukola Saraki, the popular choice to to takeover from David Mark as Senate President. He even tweeted his support.
The yearly allocation for the National Assembly, which has less than
10,000 individuals on its payroll, surpasses the annual budgets of 21 of
Nigeria’s 36 states including Katsina, Benue and Jigawa all with
populations of more than 4 million people.
While the country deals with financial issues which can be traced back
to the slump in global crude oil prices, the National Assembly
experiences few problems as its fund is in a special category called
statutory transfer which mandates the federal government, after
receiving revenues, to make the legislators’ funds immediately available
before other considerations.
“This campaign is not about an individual, rather it is about instituting a culture where public finance and accountability are inextricably linked; it is about leaders’ responsibility to taxpayers,” says Stanley Achonu, operations lead at BudgIT. The National Assembly only managed to pass 106 bills out of the 1,063 it reviewed in the last four years.
The calls for accountability from the National Assembly will resonate with millions of Nigerians who are keen to see public service holders live less luxurious lives while the majority of their countrymen wallow in poverty.
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