ADVERTISEMENT
The housing allowances for members of the National Assembly may cost the country about N5.87bn yearly, according to findings from The PUNCH.
With the annual allocation of N5.87bn, in four years the Federal Government will spend N23.48bn on the lawmakers’ accommodation.
The allowances are based on data collated from a document obtained from the website of the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission.
It covers allowances for accommodation (200 per cent of basic salary), domestic staff (75 per cent of basic salary), utilities (30 per cent of basic salary), house maintenance (five per cent of basic salary), wardrobe (25 per cent of basic salary) and furniture (300 per cent of basic salary).
Also, although furniture allowance is usually paid once in four years for public office holders, the frequency of payment is not disclosed for members of the National Assembly.
From the total amount, the housing allowances of the Senators will cost about N1.38bn yearly.
The amount for the Senate President and Deputy Senate President was not disclosed by the RMAFC. Therefore, the amount covers only the allowances for the 107 senators.
The breakdown shows that N3.97m was allocated for accommodation, N1.48m for domestic staff, N595,563.75 for utilities, N99,260.62 for house maintenance, N496,303.12 for wardrobe allowance, and N5.96m for furniture allowance.
Since the allocations for the Senate President and his Deputy and the Speaker and his Deputy were not disclosed, it means that the N5.87bn is likely below the total amount the members of the National Assembly would get as housing allowances yearly.
Peoplesmind
