The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sued Godswill Akpabio, Nigeria’s Senate President, and Tajudeen Abbas, Speaker of the House of Representatives, over N21 million monthly running cost payments to legislators (N2.29 billion for 109 senators every month).
The action was made known by the civil society organisation via its official X handle, @SERAPNigeria, on Sunday.
“We’ve sued the Senate President, Mr Akpabio and Speaker of House of Reps, Mr Abbas over the failure to end the unlawful practice by the National Assembly of fixing its allowances, and the failure to account for the N21 million monthly running costs paid to members,” SERAP announced.
BREAKING: We’ve sued the Senate President, Mr Akpabio and Speaker of House of Reps, Mr Abbas over the failure to end the unlawful practice by the National Assembly of fixing its allowances, and the failure to account for the N21 million monthly running costs paid to members.— SERAP (@SERAPNigeria) September 1, 2024
READ ALSO: Police CP Detains Officer for Trying to Protect Lagos Barracks, Children During #EndBadGovernance Protest
In March 2018, Shehu Sani, a former senator from Kaduna State, revealed that Nigerian senators each received N13.5 million as running cost per month. This was in addition to the over N750,000 they were paid monthly as consolidated salaries and allowances.
The revelation subsequently led to a lawsuit being filed by civil society organisations against the Senate in the same year. Among other things, the lawsuit challenged the constitutional validity of the huge salaries and allowances received on a monthly basis by the legislators.
On June 4, 2021, Justice Chuka Obiozor, the judge who presided over the case, declared that the Senate and the House of Representatives had no power to determine and fix the salaries, wages, running costs and allowances its members took home on a monthly basis.
Apart from making it clear that the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) was the only government agency empowered to determine and fix salaries paid to members of the National Assembly, the judge also ordered a downward review of their salaries in “a manner that would reflect the economic realities in the country”.
READ ALSO: Former Youth Leader Phillip Oyibo Awani ‘Rapes’ 14-Year-Old in Delta, Invites Her to Shrine
After its inauguration in June 2023, the leadership of the 10th National Assembly would, in utter contempt of the 2021 judgment, increase the salaries and allowances of each senator from N14 million to N21 million monthly.
Abdurrahman Kawu Sumaila, the senator representing Kano South, made this public knowledge on August 14 during a BBC Hausa Service interview.
The National Assembly would quickly counter Sumaila’s comments on August 16, by claiming the N21 million was “running cost for each Senator per month”.
The post Akpabio, Speaker Abbas Sued Over N2.3b Monthly Running Cost appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.