National Assembly members to get N8.64bn as wardrobe allowance next week
The newly inaugurated members of the National Assembly are to receive
N8.64 billion as Wardrobe allowance next week. According to
ThisDay,
N8.64 billion wardrobe allowance translates to N17.5 million for each
of the 360 members of the House of Representatives and N21.5 million for
each of the 109 senators. This is asides the other allowances they are
entitled to which includes furniture, housing and vehicle.
While the wardrobe allowance will cover the entire four-year tenure that
they will be in office, their housing allowances are to be paid on a
yearly basis. Based on the approval of the Revenue Mobilisation
Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), the housing allowance for
political office holders is usually 200 per cent of their annual
salaries, the furniture allowance is 300 per cent of annual salaries,
while a motor vehicle loan is pegged at 400 per cent of their annual
salaries.
Going by this policy, each of the 107 senators besides the Senate
President and his deputy, will be paid N4,052,800 as housing allowance.
This will be paid to them every year, translating to N433,649,600 as
housing allowance to be paid to the Senate annually, while the Senate
President and the Deputy Senate President will be provided accommodation
by the federal government.
On the other hand, each member of the House of Representatives will be
paid N3,970,425 as housing allowance. This implies that the each of the
358 House of representatives members aside the Speaker and Deputy
Speaker, will collect a total of N1,421,412,150 as housing allowance.
Like that of the Senate, the speaker and deputy speaker will be given
accommodation by the federal government.
Following the monetisation of entitlements of public officials
undertaken by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, the lawmakers lost
the right to occupy houses built and maintained by the government.
Hence, the federal government sold the houses previously occupied by the
lawmakers to them.
Since the principal officers of the Sixth National Assembly benefited
from the sale of the houses, the Federal Capital Territory
Administration (FCTA) is currently building new ones for the four
presiding officers of both chambers.
On the furniture allowance, each of the senators will be paid N6,079,200
while the furniture for both the Senate president and his deputy will
be provided by the government. The total sum to be paid to the 107
senators as furniture allowance will be N650,474,400.
In the House of Representatives, each member will be paid N5,955,637.50
as furniture allowance. This means that the 358 members will collect a
total of N2,132,118,225 for furniture.
On the vehicle loan, each of the senators is entitled to N8,105,600,
while each House member is entitled to N7,940,850.50, meaning that the
107 senators will collectively take N867,299,200 as vehicle loans while
the 358 House members will get N2,842,824,479 for their vehicles.
