A Lagos based Human Rights activist, Mr. Malachy Ugwumadu has called for legal action to prevent members of the House of Representatives from increasing their quarterly allowances from N27 million to N45 million per quarter.
Independent reports that Ugwumadu, who spoke through a telephone interview on Channels Television ‘Sunrise Daily’ on Thursday, condemned the lawmakers’ demand of a total of N45 million quarterly allowance, adding that such a plan if allowed to materialise would demoralise Nigerians.
Members of the House were said to have on Wednesday held a closed door meeting with the House leadership to clamour for an increment in the quarterly allowance.
The lawyer explained that the misalignment between the needs of the people and the activities of people in government was a “recipe for some form of very serious concern”.
“The figures being reeled out by the lawmakers were not in tandem with the reality of what the citizens earn, particularly when placed against the backdrop of the minimum wage, which is N18,000, and the resentment which they also stand against policies and activities of government would ordinarily advance the well-being of the Nigerian people.
“One thing these lawmakers don’t know is that they are creating problems for themselves and even if they earn more than that N45 million per quarter, they cannot have the safety to enjoy it.
“The country that has just concluded the rebasing system in which we are made to believe that Nigeria is now the biggest economy in Africa and one of the best in the world, that does not translate practically in terms of what the people are experiencing on daily basis,” Ugwumadu noted.