NASS Commission Pays Senators N13.5m Allowance – RMAFC
The Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has distanced itself from the N13.5m paid as allowances to federal lawmakers.
The federal agency said the National Assembly Service Commission is the one in charge of payments to lawmakers.
This is contained in a statement released by the RMAFC spokesperson, Ibrahim Mohammed.
He said the approved remuneration of a senator for a month is N1.06m, adding that anything outside this payment was outside the law.
Mohammed said, “The law on salaries and allowances of public office holders is very clear and as such it is only the management of the National Assembly Service Commission that can explain the N13.5m running cost allegedly being enjoyed by each senator as the Act only covers salaries and allowances but not running cost.
“A closer look at the monthly entitlement of senators reveals that each senator collects salary and allowances in the sum of N1,063,860:00 consisting of the following: basic-N168,866:70; motor vehicle fuelling and maintenance allowance N126,650:00; personal assistant N42,216:66; domestic staff-126,650:00; entertainment-N50,660:00; utilities-N50,660:00; newspapers/periodicals-N25,330:00; wardrobe-N42,216,66:00; house maintenance-N8,443.33:00 and constituency-N422,166:66 respectively.
“It is instructive to note that some allowances are regular while others are non-regular. Regular allowances are paid regularly with basic salary while non-regular allowances are paid as at when due. Furniture allowance (N6,079,200:00) and severance gratuity (N6,079,200:00), for instance, are paid once in every tenure while motor vehicle loan (N8,105,600:00) is optional which the beneficiary has to offset before leaving office.
“The payment of running cost is not part of RMAFC’s mandate. Therefore, only the NASS can explain it.”
