Senate cannot disclose salary details - Spokesperson

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Aliyu Abdullahi, has said lawmakers are not interested in divulging the details of their salaries to the public.

While speaking during an interview on Politics Today, a programme on Channels Television, Senator Abdullahi said the contentious issue is being blown out of proportion.

He further stated that anyone that is particularly interested in figuring out how much Nigerian lawmakers make should make investigations with the public forum where the information can be obtained.

He said, "You don’t expect me to come out on national television to say this is what I earn. It is not done. I cannot ask you as a journalist how much you earn. It is not done.

"If anybody is interested in how much we are getting paid, you know where to get the information. The documents are available. If Nigerians won't believe that, is it what I will say that they will believe?"

However, when he was asked if Senators earn N14 million monthly and House of Representatives members N8 million monthly, he still refused to acknowledge the figures.

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He responded, "This issue has become a recurring decimal. In the last two years people have been discussing this matter and I always ask myself, what do people really want to believe?

"I think if this subject matter has been discussed for two years and we are still looking at issues wrongly, then I think there is something wrong with us.

"The institutions that are responsible for providing this information are there. A law was promulgated on Top Salary Scale also known as TOPSA and it is based on this scale that everyone who holds one political office or the other gets paid.

"I want to also submit that I presume Prof. Sagay would have been paid based on the provision of this scale. For us in the National Assembly, the question needs to be asked 'What is the cost of having democracy and what is the cost of not having democracy?'"

Discussions on the earnings of lawmakers in the country reared its head again last week after Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Professor Itse Sagay, claimed that every Nigerian Senator earns N29.5 million per month and N3.2 billion per annum.

In a robust response issued by the Senate, Abdullahi referred to Sagay as "a senile, jaded, rustic and outdated Professor of Law", stating that the figures were exaggerated.