The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has disclosed that each of the 109 senators in the upper chamber receives a total of ₦1,063,860 in salary and allowances per month.
The breakdown of their monthly earnings is as follows:
– Basic Salary: ₦168,866.70
– Motor Vehicle Fuelling and Maintenance Allowance: ₦126,650.00
– Personal Assistant: ₦42,216.66
– Domestic Staff: ₦126,650.00
– Entertainment: ₦50,660.00
– Utilities: ₦50,660.00
– Newspapers/Periodicals: ₦25,330.00
– Wardrobe: ₦42,216.66
– House Maintenance: ₦8,443.33
– Constituency Allowance: ₦422,166.66
On Tuesday, RMAFC Chairman M.B. Shehu issued a statement clarifying recent comments made by former Senator Shehu Sani.
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Sani had claimed that each senator receives a monthly running cost of ₦13.5 million in addition to the ₦750,000 monthly payment prescribed by the Commission.
Shehu clarified that the RMAFC does not possess the constitutional authority to enforce compliance with the remuneration package for lawmakers, although this gap is being addressed by the National Assembly.
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He explained that the allowances consist of both regular and non-regular categories. Regular allowances are paid alongside the basic salary, while non-regular allowances are disbursed as they become due.
“For instance, Furniture allowance (₦6,079,200:00) and Severance Gratuity (₦6,079,200:00) are paid once in every tenure and Vehicle allowance (₦8,105,600:00) which is optional is a loan which the beneficiary has to pay before leaving office,” he added.
Shehu stated that, apart from the president, vice president, senate president, and speaker of the House of Representatives, other public and legislative officers no longer receive housing benefits, which was previously the case.
On Sunday, the Senate responded to former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s recent remarks suggesting that lawmakers in both chambers of the National Assembly (NASS) set their own salaries.
Senate spokesman Yemi Adaramodu challenged anyone with credible evidence to refute this, calling the idea that the National Assembly sets its own salaries “uncharitable and satanic.”
Adaramodu clarified that the Senate receives salaries strictly as allocated by the RMAFC, in accordance with the constitution.
Former President Obasanjo, who served from May 1999 to May 2007, had criticized the practice of lawmakers determining their own pay, calling it “immoral” and recommending that the RMAFC should handle the setting of salaries and allowances instead.
