President Goodluck Jonathan has ordered the slashing of the allowances of lawmakers in the National Assembly [NASS] even as he complained that the N4.96 trillion budget passed by the legislators was un-implementable.
A highly placed source who disclosed this to Peoples Daily said the quarterly allowances for each member of the House of Representatives jerked up from N27 million to N42 million by the leadership, would be slashed to about N30 million or less.
Similarly, Senators’ quarterly allowances, currently put at N46 million, would also be slashed by 30 percent to about N33 million.
The slash followed public outcry against the jumbo pay earmarked for the members of the National Assembly in the 2011 budget which the President has refused to sign into law.
The source further disclosed that the President has insisted that the lawmakers should reduce the N4.96 trillion budget passed by both Chambers to the N4.22 trillion he originally proposed to the NASS for consideration. “In order to control the inflow of funds into the NASS, the government has refused to release capital budget to the legislature and has continued to release overhead on monthly basis as against the practice of quarterly releases,” he pointed out.
The source also added that some projects injected into the budget by the lawmakers at both Chambers would be deleted leaving only those originally proposed by the executive in its N4.22 trillion appropriation proposal submitted for passage.
It was also gathered further that the President deliberately delayed assent to the 2011 budget as passed by NASS so that the tenure of the sixth National Assembly could expire without making any ‘injurious’ input into the budget.
Meanwhile some members-elect in the House of Representatives have relegated the task of lawmaking to the background by making inquest into the actual allowance to expect immediately they are sworn-in on 6th of June.
A ranking member, now a senator-elect from the South-South geo-political zone in the country, who made the disclosure in an interaction with Peoples Daily at the on-going NASS retreat in Markurdi, also disclosed that he was worried that some of the new members-elect are not prepared for legislative business but have begun to ask him which of the House committees is the ‘juiciest’.
He said, “I was so embarrassed when today, some members-elect asked me which of the committees in the House was juicy and how much they are to expect as their quarterly allowances after inauguration.”
“One of them also asked me which committee has oversight function on the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA). It seems these new members are out to scoop as much money as possible from the system, with little or no regard for their primary assignments,” he added.
According to him, the retreat for the lawmakers-elect must be properly focused so that their perception of the House would be redirected. He called for a full re-orientation for the members so that they would not see the parliament as a place for money-sharing.
A highly placed source who disclosed this to Peoples Daily said the quarterly allowances for each member of the House of Representatives jerked up from N27 million to N42 million by the leadership, would be slashed to about N30 million or less.
Similarly, Senators’ quarterly allowances, currently put at N46 million, would also be slashed by 30 percent to about N33 million.
The slash followed public outcry against the jumbo pay earmarked for the members of the National Assembly in the 2011 budget which the President has refused to sign into law.
The source further disclosed that the President has insisted that the lawmakers should reduce the N4.96 trillion budget passed by both Chambers to the N4.22 trillion he originally proposed to the NASS for consideration. “In order to control the inflow of funds into the NASS, the government has refused to release capital budget to the legislature and has continued to release overhead on monthly basis as against the practice of quarterly releases,” he pointed out.
The source also added that some projects injected into the budget by the lawmakers at both Chambers would be deleted leaving only those originally proposed by the executive in its N4.22 trillion appropriation proposal submitted for passage.
It was also gathered further that the President deliberately delayed assent to the 2011 budget as passed by NASS so that the tenure of the sixth National Assembly could expire without making any ‘injurious’ input into the budget.
Meanwhile some members-elect in the House of Representatives have relegated the task of lawmaking to the background by making inquest into the actual allowance to expect immediately they are sworn-in on 6th of June.
A ranking member, now a senator-elect from the South-South geo-political zone in the country, who made the disclosure in an interaction with Peoples Daily at the on-going NASS retreat in Markurdi, also disclosed that he was worried that some of the new members-elect are not prepared for legislative business but have begun to ask him which of the House committees is the ‘juiciest’.
He said, “I was so embarrassed when today, some members-elect asked me which of the committees in the House was juicy and how much they are to expect as their quarterly allowances after inauguration.”
“One of them also asked me which committee has oversight function on the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA). It seems these new members are out to scoop as much money as possible from the system, with little or no regard for their primary assignments,” he added.
According to him, the retreat for the lawmakers-elect must be properly focused so that their perception of the House would be redirected. He called for a full re-orientation for the members so that they would not see the parliament as a place for money-sharing.
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