Labour leaders condemn 25% annual budget spent on lawmakers revenue - Nigerian tribune

Labour leaders on Monday, condemned the high percentage of Nigeria’s annual budget spent on National Assembly members.

The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, said on Saturday, in Okada, near Benin, that 25 per cent of government’s annual budget went to the National Assembly.

Sanusi described the trend as unhealthy and called for a cut if the country must develop.

Labour leaders interviewed in Lagos by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) called for a national conference to discuss the salaries and allowances of the federal legislators.

They were unanimous in calling for a reduction of the lawmakers’ pay to avoid chaos in the country.
Mr Peter Esele, President, Trade Union Congress (TUC), said it was regrettable that rather than serve the people, members of the National Assembly were serving themselves.

“It is sad that our lawmakers appropriate salaries to themselves without thinking about the nation. It is a problem that we all need to sit down and discuss.

“It is bad for democracy. It shows there is tyranny in the land and this is sad for the Nigerian people who do not have good infrastructure or adequate means of livelihood,” Esele said.

He advised the legislators to, as a matter of urgency, review their own salaries.

In his reaction, Mr Dele Akinyanju, General Secretary, Railway Workers Union of Nigeria, said that the issue must be discussed by every Nigerian as the money paid to the legislators was tax payers’ money.

“Their annual pay should be reduced. Nigerians from all sectors of the economy should deliberate what should be paid to legislators and the monthly salary should be made public,” Akinyanju said.

Mr Olusoju Salako, President, Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI), called on Nigerians to condemn the amount spent on the lawmakers.

“It is sad that the lawmakers are serving themselves and their families and not the people that elected them. People should begin to condemn this now to avoid unrest,” he said.

Salako described as criminal the 25 per cent spent on about 500 lawmakers out of the money that should be spent on 150 million Nigerians.