Allowance: Senators disagree over committee report

dimeji akinloye

August 12, 2015 10:51 PM

In the meeting, Mbam said the 2008 Remuneration Act was being reviewed and would be ready at the end of the third quarter of 2015.

Senate President, Bukola Saraki.

The Senate after an hour close door session on Wednesday, August 12, stood down the report of its ad hoc committee on the Review of National Assembly Finance, for further consideration.

The President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, who made the disclosure after the session, said the essence was to carry out further consideration on the report.

"The senate in a closed door session deliberated on the report of its committee on finance and approved that it should be stood down for further consideration,’’ he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that on June 25, Saraki constituted the ad hoc committee on finance to review salaries, allowances and overhead cost of running the National Assembly.

The committee was constituted to realign the finance of lawmakers to reflect the present economic realities in the country.

NAN recalls that following concerns raised by Nigerians about lawmakers’ wardrobe allowances, Elias Mbam, Chairman, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), met with the President of the Senate on June 17.

Meanwhile, the Senate had confirmed Abdullahi Kaugama as Resident Electoral Commissioner for Jigawa in accordance with Section 143 of the Third Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

At Wednesday’s plenary, six bills, including National Development Bank of Nigeria (Establishment) Bill 2015, and Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (Repeal and re-enactment) Bill 2015, scaled first reading.

Others are Nigerian Agricultural Processing Zones (Establishment) Bill 2015, Labour transportation Bill (2015), Erosion Control and Prevention Commission (Establishment) Bill 2015 and National commission for ecological Problems (Establishment) Bill 2015.

The Senate also received reports of its ad hoc committee on Legislative Agenda for the Senate and ad hoc committee on Local and Foreign Debts on the Edo State Credit Facility of N75 million from the World Bank.

dimeji akinloye