Senators’ monthly pay is N15m, Sagay replies Lawan

The Chairman , Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption , Prof . Itse Sagay ( SAN ) , has asked Senate President Ahmed Lawan to stop misleading Nigerians, adding that senators earn N 15 m monthly and not N 750, 000 as claimed by the Senate President .

Lawan had said on Tuesday that there was no such thing as ‘ jumbo pay ’ , adding that he earns N 750 , 000 as salary .
Speaking with our correspondent on Wednesday , however , Sagay said Nigerians were more interested in how much senators take home monthly in salary and allowances .

The senior advocate said Lawan was only speaking half truth because everyone knows that the bulk of the money earned by senators is embedded in their allowances .
Sagay said , “ He ( Lawan ) knows that nobody will take him seriously . I respect and like him but what he has done is to give half – truth. He is telling us the actual salary without mentioning anything about the allowances .

“ That ’ s where the jumbo pay comes in when you talk of building , furniture , domestic this or that , 15 items and those items alone bring everything up to N 13 . 5 m a month . So, simply mentioning the base salary , which brings it over N 14 m , is not sufficient .

“ So, technically , he’ s right , that ’ s their salary . But what is his income, take – home pay , at the end of the month ? It ’ s about N 15 m and we are not including so many other things we need not talk about now .
The senior advocate said the presiding officers of the National Assembly earn more than ordinary members.

He, therefore , asked Lawan to come clean .
“ Not only that ; that leadership of the two houses earn a lot more — tremendous amounts . I don’ t really want to go into issues not to create controversy but what he’ s saying now is pure technical truth about salary but not about allowances , which is where the jumbo really is , ” Sagay said .
The PACAC chairman, who was the first to expose the jumbo pay of federal lawmakers, said he was still trying to ascertain the allowances of principal officers .

He said , “ What I have not been able to do is give details of what the leadership earn . There is the leadership aspect that I hadn ’ t revealed — the excess that the Senate leader ( President ) and deputy Senate leader , leader of the house ; the same thing applying to the House ( of Representatives ) .

“ What they get — the current ones — that I have not been able to release . I had the details of the previous house . They were mindboggling ; we are talking of one person getting up to N 280m a year in allowances for his position . But I don’ t know what they had during the Saraki era or what the present group are going to award themselves . ”

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