The Nigerian Senate has strongly denied claims by Senator Kawu Sumaila (NNPP, Kano South) that each senator receives a monthly salary and allowances totaling N21 million. Sumaila made the assertion during a recent interview with the BBC Hausa Service.
Senator Yemi Adaramodu (APC, Ekiti South), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, dismissed the claim as inaccurate. He clarified that the N21 million figure is not a personal salary but rather funds allocated for the daily running of senators’ offices, including oversight functions and constituency engagements.
Adaramodu explained, “The National Assembly receives about 1% of the federal budget and has never exceeded this, even when the non-availability of funds is pervasive. For the umpteen time, the Senate is compelled to react to the obsolete allegations of a phantom salary and personal emoluments spuriously credited to Senators monthly.”
He further emphasized that the funds are part of the annual budget and are subject to retirement after being used for official purposes. “These funds are not static and it’s provided for in the annual budget. Such funds are retired by relevant officers after being used for official purposes and proof of genuine expenditure. It’s not a personal allowance or salary of the legislator,” Adaramodu said.
The senator also defended the integrity of his colleagues, stating, “The Nigerian Senate is an Assembly of accomplished and successful professionals, administrators and captains of industries, who are not driven by these often touted egregious pecuniary bits, rather for their patriotic zeal in the nation’s quest to breathe life to Nigeria’s political and socio-economic dry bones.”
The Senate’s clarification comes after the Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Mohammed Shehu, disclosed that each senator receives a total of N1,063,860 in monthly salary and allowances.
