The senate president, Mr. Ahmad Lawan, has said that the N13 million and N8 million quarterly office running cost for a member of the senate and house of representatives respectively are the lowest of any presidential democracy in the world.
Lawan who stated this yesterday in Abuja at the first distinguished parliamentarians lecture series organised by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies, disputed that the N13 million is the monthly salary of each national assembly lawmaker as publicised some years earlier.
Instead, he said the salaries and emoluments scale of members of the legislature stand at N1.5 million and N1.3 million monthly for a senator and house of representatives member respectively.
He said the N13 million thrown into the public space a few years back as the monthly salary of a senator is their quarterly office running allowance.
“The total salary of a member of the senate is about N1.5 million while that of the house of representatives is about N1.3 million.
“The quarterly office allowance for legislators is what is erroneously conflicted with a monthly income to create confusion and mislead the Nigerians.
“The average office running cost for a senator is about N13 million while that of a member of the house of representatives is N8 million,” he said.
He contended that the N13 million and the N8 million quarterly office running cost allowance cover costs of local/international travel, consulting of professional services, medical services, office stationeries/computers, consumables, books, newspapers, magazines, maintenance of motor vehicles and office equipment, among others.
