Members of the 9th National Assembly have now received their welcome package which includes accommodation and furniture allowances.
According to The Punch, the lawmakers started receiving their allowances and running costs in batches from July 5. While senators were paid over N30m, Reps received over N25m each.
“The lawmakers have been paid. They were paid on Friday. Members of the House got over N25m each and those in the Senate got over N30m. They were also paid their monthly running costs,” he said.
With the Senate and House of Representatives having 109 and 360 members, respectively, the figures will translate to N3.3bn and N9bn.
Giving some details of the payments, a member of the House of Reps said, “The accommodation (allowance) is about N4m, the furniture allowance is about N3.9m, the car loan is about N7m. Everybody has been paid. The running cost is a normal (monthly) payment.”
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However, Herald Nigeria learnt that the majority of the first-time senators expressed disappointment after receiving their alerts.
Confiding in newsmen, a new senator from the North Central geopolitical zone, said “The amount we collected, which included our June salaries and other allowances, is nothing to write home about.
“There is no way we can fund our constituency offices and take care of other important needs, including our own accommodation and mobility.”
But the Chief Whip of the Senate, Orji Uzor Kalu, said, “Let me address the issue of jumbo pay. I have received my salary for June and it is far below what you people are writing.
“It is the money we use when we travel to Abia, Lagos, Badagry or Kaduna. You will now see that you are maligning and criticising the National Assembly for nothing.
“Most of my colleagues said they did not know it was going to be like this and I said we came to serve our country as senators.”