In the United States, while the minimum wage is $1,257 (N191, 667), a US lawmaker earns $15,080 (N2.3m) per month. In the United Kingdom, a lawmaker earns $8,686(N1.3m) monthly while the gross national minimum wage is $1,883 (N283, 333) per month.
Also, Nigerian lawmakers earn higher than their counterparts in Sweden. With a monthly pay of $7,707 (N1.2m), a lawmaker in Sweden will need to work for over 12 years to equal what a Nigerian senator earn per annum.
The president of the United States takes home an anual salary of $400,000 (N64.156,0m), including a $50,000 expense allowance making the president the highest paid public servant in the US. The $400,000 includes everything and $350,000 out of it is taxable.
Selected States (salary per annum)
The prime minister of the United Kingdom……USD 226,627.00
French president………………………………….. USD 318,072.00
South African president…………………………..USD 296,112.00
German chancelor………………………………….USD 296,112.00
The Prime Minister of Belgium…………………..USD 174,804.00
President of the Republic of Korea……………..USD 136,669.00
President of Russia…………………………………USD 122,652.00
Prime Minister Portugal……………………………USD 129,730.00
Prime Minister Namibia……………………………USD 115,155.00
President of Angola………………………………..USD 60,000.00
President Argentina………………………………..USD 55,139.00
Prime Minister Ukraine…………………………….USD 61,254.00
President Zimbabwe……………………………….USD 18,000.00
President of People’s republic of China………..USD 10,633.00
President Liberia……………………………………USD 90,000.00
Prime Minister Spain ……………………………..USD 102,960.00
Prime Minister Namibia…………………………..USD 115,155.00
President Namibia…………………………………USD 164,506.00
President of Colombia …………………………..USD 120,685.00
Prime Minister of the Netherlands……………..USD 190,740.00
Prime Minister Ireland……………………………USD 264,000.00
Prime Minister Denmark…………………………USD 264,533.00
President Mexico………………………………….USD 328,839.00
President Austria………………………………….USD 422,231.00
President of the European Council…………….USD 508,916.00
NIGERIAN SENATORS
Basic Salary (BS) = N2,484,245.50
Hardship Allowanc: 50% of Basic Salary = N1,242,122.75
Constituency allowance: 200% of BS = N4,968,509.00
Furniture Allowance: 300% of BS = N7,452,736.50
Newspaper allowance: 50% = N1,242,122.70
Wardrobe allowance: 25% = N621,061.37
Recess Allowance: 10% = N248,424.55
Accommodation: 200% = N4,968,509.00
Utilities: 30% = N828,081.83
Domestic Staff: 35% = N863,184.12
Entertainment: 30% = N828,081.83
Personal Assistance: 25% = N621,061.37
Vehicle Maintenance Allowance: 75% = N1,863,184.12
Leave Allowance : 10% = N248,424.55
One off payments (Severance gratuity): 300% = N7,452,736.50
Motor Vehicle Allowance: 400% of BS = N9,936,982.00
Total per month = N29, 479, 749.00
A senator’s anual salary = over N182 million
multiply by 109 senators (don’t forget the House of rep, ministers, ambassadors, …)
In addition to the regular and legitimate salaries and allowances of over N17 million ($113,333) and N14.99 million ($99,933) which senators and reps were collecting yearly and the irregular allowance of estacodes, duty tours etc, they were also collecting over N192m ($1.28m) and N140m ($0.93m) respectively in illicit quarterly allocation which is not provided for by RMAFC.
Effectively, a Nigerian senator was taking home at least $1.40m ($1.28m quarterly allocations + $0.113m regular salaries and allowances) as against the $0.174m an American senator takes home hence a Nigeria senator earns at least 8 times as much as an American senator and more than 3 times the American president.
Whereas a Senator in the U.S earns N21, 146,000, the same as a member of the House of Representatives; a UK Member of Parliament earn £64,766 (N14, 896,180)
In other words, a Federal Legislator in Nigeria is paid more than double what a Member of British Parliament earns per annum.
Senate President David Mark alone takes N250 million quarterly or N83.33 million per month. Senate Deputy President Ike Ekweremadu gets N150 million per quarter or N50 million a month.
Mark and Ekweremadu earns in 4 months, six times what the UK Prime Minister earns in a year. David Cameron goes home with £190,000 per anum (N43, 700,000)
In a newspaper news article entitled ‘An Assembly for looting’ written by Musikilu Mojeed with Elor Nkereuwem, the authors rightly claimed that each of the 360 members of the House of Representatives were getting N35 million in cash money in quarterly allocation while each of the 109 Senators pockets N48 million each. These allocations have however been slashed by 20% to N27 million ($180,000) and N38 million ($253,333) respectively due to the 20% reduction requested by the late president.
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