Math homework
The Nigerian naira is equivalent to about half a cent US. Or it takes nearly 200 naira to equal one US dollar. You do the math and decide if the allowances for Nigerian legislators are reasonable.Nigeria: N'Assembly Members to Get N8.64 Billion As Wardrobe Allowance Next Week
The newly sworn in members of the National Assembly will smile home with a whooping N8.64 billion as wardrobe allowance next week, it was learnt last night.
The sum is aside other allowances such as furniture, housing and vehicle, which the lawmakers are entitled to. It was also learnt that the management of the National Assembly is currently allocating offices to the 469 federal lawmakers in both chambers ahead of their resumption on June 23 from the two-week recess that they embarked on June 10.
The 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…
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.
Accordingly, each of the 107 senators besides the Senate President and his deputy, will be paid N4,052,800 as housing allowance. This sum will be paid to them every year, translating to N433,649,600 as housing allowance to be paid to the Senate annually…
On the other hand, each member of the House of Representatives will be paid N3,970,425 as housing allowance upon assumption of office…
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Labels: legislature, Nigeria
posted by Ken Wedding @ 5:30 AM
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When rentier income rather than taxes pay for government.
The anger over money for politicians' clothes
Nigerians are venting their frustration online after reports of an alleged proposal to pay huge wardrobe allowances to lawmakers.
Politicians's salaries are a sore point in Nigeria - a country where the minimum wage only amounts to about £680 (or $1080) per year, yet members of the National Assembly are among the highest paid legislators in the world, with a basic annual salary of about £120,000 ($189,500).
So when local media reported that a total of nearly 9 billion naira (£28 million or $45 million) might be offered to lawmakers as "wardrobe allowances", Twitter exploded.
The government has since denied the reports, with officials saying that the actual yearly allowance would amount to only £1,600 ($2,500) for each senator.
[One tweet] said: "Nigeria, 17th least prosperous country, has highest paid legislature. How is that not obscene?!"
Columnist Japheth Omojuwa… [said] "The National Assembly is not living in the current economic reality. It is important for us as citizens to let them understand that they are living in a different reality," Omojuwa told Trending. He also noted that money could be used, for instance, to help the estimated millions of Nigerian children who don't attend school.
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