Nigeria’s leading transparency platform, Tracka, has revealed how Nigeria’s national assembly members earned a staggering N13 billion for 15 days of work.
Tracka revealed that despite working for only 15 days in the last 14 weeks, the national assembly made up of Senate and House of Reps members continued to earn their pay.
In a tweet on its official platform, Tracka gave a breakdown of how the national assembly has become more of a financial strain on Nigerians.
Tracka explained that Nigeria’s 109 senators earn N36.4 million monthly while 360 Reps earn N25 million.
8th NASS:
Sitting ~ 15 days
Recess ~ 12 weeks
109 senators ~N36.4m each;
360 Reps ~N25m each
Total Amt ~ N13bn #GetInvolved @nassnigeria @bukolasaraki @YakubDogara @chronicle_ng @Afrikareport— Tracka.ng (@TrackaNG) November 4, 2018
Tracka’s revelation immediately sparked a Twitter backlash, with many Nigerians calling for the NASS to be scrap given that if offers very little value compared to monies earned.
Reacting to the tweet, Nigeria What’s Going On wrote, “I don’t understand. Does it mean they sat for just 15 days in 2018 and are residents in Abuja? If yes, then Nigeria is in deep trouble. Can you imagine how LAZINESS is being rewarded at the highest level? No wonder they kill themselves to go “lazying” in Abuja.
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King Monex had a even more damning conclusion. “NASS should be close down for good,” he tweeted.
Balogun Joseph had a not too palatable adjective for them. “Den of robbers. That’s why they can go to any length to get there. Too bad.
Funso Akinlade had a similar view. “It’s just insane how much these people are paid. Now, the more maddening part is how they do nothing more of the time and still get paid.”
“No value for money. Let’s re-appraise the system and restructure accordingly. Options to conside: part time legislation, high-brid NASS, constituency reconfiguration by merger,” Dauda Garuba tweeted.
Pained by the huge monies paid to NASS, Akinrimisi Temitope said, “The most useless, selfish and ineffective assembly. Just wasting tax payers money for doing practically nothing.”
The salary of the National Assembly especially that of the Senate was one of the world’s kept secrets until Senator Shehu Sani (Kaduna Central) revealed their earnings in an interview with TheNEWS.
