Additional reports: Dare Olawin, Bankole Taiwo, Peter Dada, and Adeyinka Adedipe
An analysis by The PUNCH has revealed that the National Assembly and the 36 state assemblies of the federation, along with their agencies, will use approximately N724bn this year from their 2024 budgets.
It was also found that the salaries and allowances for federal and state lawmakers will total about N50bn this year.
This indicates that the national and state governments have set aside N673.94bn for the national and state assemblies as well as their related agencies in the 2024 budget.
The data for salaries and allowances is based on information obtained from the website of the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission.
However, the total allowances are actually higher than the reported figure due to undisclosed amounts for several of the lawmakers.
An analysis shows that 109 members of the senate will receive N8.67bn in salaries and allowances while 360 members in the green chamber will receive N24.43bn in salaries and allowances.
A breakdown shows that the annual basic salary of the President of the Senate is N2.48m each year (about N9.92m in four years) while that of the Deputy President is N2.31m yearly (about N9.24m in four years).
Out of 19 allowances assigned to the Senate President and his deputy, only five allowances were assigned a specific figure.
The disclosed allowances include constituency allowance (250% of the basic annual salary), duty tour allowance (N50,000 per night), Estacode ($1,300 per night), Recess (10% of the basic annual salary) and severance gratuity (300% of the basic annual salary).
The allowances of the Senate President will amount to about N33.29m, which includes a N6.21m annual constituency allowance, N248,424.25 annual recess allowance, and N7.45m for severance gratuity, paid at the end of the tenure.
The allowances of the Deputy Senate President are expected to cost the nation about N30.94m, which includes N5.77m annual constituency allowance, N230,916.70 annual recess allowance, and N6.93m for severance gratuity.
Other senators receive N2.03m as their basic annual salary (a total of N8.12m in four years) and a total allowance of N72,137,440 for each of them.
The salaries of the 107 senators will total N868.3m, while their allowances will cost N7.72bn.
In the section for the salaries and allowances of other senators, only 15 out of the 20 allowances mentioned were disclosed.
Similarly, the Speaker of the House earns an annual salary of N2.48m (about N9.92m in four years), while the deputy earns N2.29m (about N9.16m in four years).
The allowances of the Speaker are about N18.33m which includes N2.48m annually for constituency allowance, N247,711 annual recess allowance, and N7.43m severance gratuity.
The allowance of the deputy speaker was pegged at about N17.16m and this includes annual N2.29m for constituency allowance, N288,703 for recess, and N6.86m for severance gratuity.
Other members of the House of Representatives receive N1.99m each as their basic annual salary (a total of N7.94m in four years), while each receive N58.76m as allowance.
The House of Representatives members will be paid N2.84bn in salaries and N21.04bn in allowances.
The Speaker of a state assembly will receive N1.64m annually (N6.56m in four years) as a basic salary while the deputy speaker gets N1.45m (N5.8m in four years).
The 36 speakers will earn about N59.04m annually or N236.16m in four years, and the 36 deputies will earn about N52.1m annually or N208.40m in four years.
The speaker's allowances will amount to about N5.58m (N22.30m in four years), which includes N409,968 for constituency allowance, N163,987.50 for annual leave allowance, and N3.28m for severance gratuity.
The deputy speaker will receive about N4.92m (N19.67m in four years), which includes N361,495 for constituency allowance, N144,598 for annual leave, and N2.89m for severance gratuity.
The basic allowances for the 36 speakers and their deputies will cost the nation about N1.51bn.
Each of the 784 members in the 36 state Houses of Assembly is entitled to N1.34m annually or N5.34m in four years, and an allowance of N12.97m.
The 784 members cost their states about N4.19bn in salary and N10.17bn in allowance.
The government approved N294.7bn for the National Assembly, its affiliate bodies, and infrastructure construction.
The National Assembly's 2024 budget shows N36.73bn for the assembly office, N49.14bn for the Senate, and N78.63bn for the Representatives.
The political arm of the National Assembly includes the Senate and the House of Representatives with 109 and 360 members, respectively, while the administrative/bureaucratic arm has the National Assembly Management headed by the Clerk of the National Assembly and the National Assembly Service Commission.
The federal parliament has affiliate bodies including the National Assembly Service Commission with funding of N12.33bn, the National Assembly Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies receiving N9.1bn, and the headquarters receiving N4.5bn.
Legislative aides were provided with N20.34bn, the Public Account Committee of the Senate got N130m, and the green chamber got N150m.
The Office of retired clerks and permanent secretaries received N1.2bn, the service-wide vote was N15.2bn, general services received N30.81bn, National Assembly Library building received N12.12bn, and books procurement for the library received N3bn. The Appropriation Committee Department for the Senate and House each received N200m. The construction of the NASC will also cost N10bn.
State Assembly's budgets.
The statutory budgets of a state assembly and its agencies increased to N379.28bn in the 2024 budget.
An analysis of each state's 2024 budget revealed that Akwa-Ibom, Kaduna, Delta, Edo, Imo, Lagos, and Ogun governments provided the highest funding to their lawmakers.
This funding includes appropriation for the service commission, civil servants, and capital expenditure.
Abia State assembly received N6.43 billion, Akwa-Ibom got N5.84 billion, Anambra obtained N7.23 billion, Bauchi was allocated N5.45 billion, Bayelsa got N2.04 billion, Benue received N6.18 billion, Borno was given N8.1 billion, Cross-Rivers got N10.82 billion, Delta secured N14.17 billion, Ebonyi received N2.39 billion, Edo was allocated N26.17 billion, Ekiti got N2.8 billion, Enugu obtained N6.23 billion, Gombe was given N5.61 billion, Imo was allotted N26.85 billion, Jigawa received N7.17 billion, Kaduna obtained N17.11 billion, and Kano got N10.08 billion.
Additionally, Katsina received N4.83 billion, Kebbi was allocated N6.72 billion, Kogi got N7.77 billion, Kwara secured N5.03 billion, Lagos obtained N70.56 billion, Nasarawa was allocated N6.03 billion, Niger received N4.15 billion, Ogun obtained N14.41 billion, Ondo secured N11.34 billion, Osun received N4.13 billion, Oyo was allocated N9.68 billion, Plateau got N10.15 billion, Rivers obtained N5.02 billion, Sokoto was allocated N10.16 billion, Taraba received N9.5 billion, Yobe was given N3.99 billion, and Zamfara obtained N3.83 billion.
- Reactions
Some state assemblies have responded. The Ondo State House of Assembly expressed concerns about the budget allocated for it in 2024, stating that it would not be sufficient to cover all its expenses.
A review of the state’s website revealed that N14.9 billion was set aside for the Ondo assembly for the current year.
Discussing the budget, the Chairman of the House Committee on Information and Orientation, Mr Olatunji Oshati, mentioned that the amount was inadequate and called for the enforcement of the assembly autonomy, which has been approved by the President.
Oshati conveyed, “The funds (budget) are insufficient; despite our persistent request for the release of our constituency allowances to carry out our constituency projects, it has not been granted. We would appreciate an increase in funds to enhance the House's operations.
“It would be beneficial if the assembly autonomy law, which has been enacted, is implemented. This would enable the house to address its financial challenges without any influence from the executive, and ensure the optimal functioning of the house.”
- Edo
In Edo, the State House of Assembly was granted N13 billion in the state’s 2024 budget.
Blessing Agbebaku, the Speaker of the House, revealed this recently during an event.
However, attempts to obtain the budget breakdown over the weekend were unsuccessful, as a senior official informed the PUNCH that the breakdown could only be obtained from the Ministry of Finance.
Also, the Minority Leader of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Lukman Adeleye, stated that the budgetary allocation for the legislature was approximately N12 billion.
Adeleye, however, noted that the figure was only on paper, as historical data indicates that the actual budget performance rarely exceeds 30 percent.
He remarked, “In this case, the actual budget performance, which is the amount the assembly will actually receive for the entire year, may not surpass 30 percent of the entire budget based on past performance.
‘’The budgetary provision was designed to take into consideration the implementation of the autonomy of the state houses of assembly as enacted during the tenure of President Mohammadu Buhari.
“The budget is intended to cover both capital and recurrent expenditures, including civil servants' salaries, lawmakers' salaries, constituency projects, running the assembly, training, oversight functions, and other activities to enhance the legislature's effectiveness.
“However, as I mentioned before, the budget allocation is theoretical because I don’t know of any governor who has put into action the autonomy law. We are still under the control of the executive branch of the government”.
- Groups react
Meanwhile, some anti-corruption groups have responded to the issue.
The Deputy Director of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, Kolawole Oludare, stated that NASS lacked transparency and accountability, explaining, “The transparency part involves informing the public about the amount and the process of allocation. The accountability aspect also pertains to the actions and procedures of the National Assembly.
“To provide context, the National Assembly was allocated just under N200bn in the 2024 budget, and they increased it by over 50 per cent in the 2024 appropriation before it became law. So, it is evident that the NASS lacks transparency and accountability in how they handle their allocation, both recurrent and capital. And perhaps that is why the state legislature is following the lead of the NASS”,
Meanwhile, the Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, Musa Ibrahim, expressed disappointment at the “inequity and exploitation” in the unequal pay between the legislators and officials in the security agencies, describing it as unjust.
“Because the Nigerian government has established unequal pay, some Nigerians who are contributing significantly to the growth and development of this country are being neglected and not receiving necessary support, especially those who are sacrificing their lives to protect the country and its people.
“There’s no way you can keep impoverishing public officials, especially serving security officials, with this meager pay and then expect them to go and risk their lives to protect you and others. I think this is unjust. We cannot continue this exploitation and discrimination in pay. We cannot be favoring political appointees and politicians who are misusing public funds when their contributions are not substantial,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Centre for Accountability and Open Leadership, Debo Adeniran, stated that the lawmakers’ extravagant pay was insensitive.
“Generally, any income that is not recommended by the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission is against the law, and anyone earning such income has committed an offense that is supposed to be criminal. But in Nigeria, our leaders act as if they are above the law and as if they have been elected to enjoy on our behalf.
Fundamentally, what they have done is insensitive, even cruel, and there will come a time when Nigerians will not be able to tolerate it anymore, and it will escalate into a situation that they will find difficult to control,” he said.
