Politics Nigeria: There have been various grumbles by Nigerians that the salaries earned by the politicians are undeserved. Nigerian politics witnessed calls from people for the take home package of the politicians to be reviewed. The salary of Nigerian senators is among the highest in the world. Sequel to this, the Revenue mobilization and fiscal commission (RMAFC) carried out a downward review of the salaries of top politicians in the country. This includes the salary of Nigerian senators. In this article, we shall highlight the current salary of Nigerian senators.
Salary of the Senate President of Nigeria:
Among all the key men in politics in Nigeria, the number three citizen earns the highest basic salary.
The allowances and salary of the Senate president of Nigeria was also reviewed by RMAFC. Currently, the monthly salary of the senate president of Nigeria is about N724,570.
The federal government takes care of other allowances such as:
Domestic staff,
entertainment,
utilities,
security responsibility,
Legislative Aids,
House Maintenance
Special Adviser
Personal Assistant
Vehicles and maintenance
Clothing
Newspapers all receives a 60 percent boost of the salary. The annual salary of the Senate president of Nigeria is N2,484,242.50. He enjoys an allowance of N6.2 million, taking the total salary to N8.69Million
In addition, the senate president receives 250 percent of his Annual Salary as Constituency Allowance. At the end of his tenure, he will receive 300 percent of his annual salary as gratuity.
The senate president receives an estacode of $1,000 per night for foreign trips and N37,000 per night duty tour allowance.
Salary of the Deputy Senate President of Nigeria
The Deputy Senate President enjoys almost the same benefits as the Senate President. The annual basic salary of the Deputy senate president stands at N2,309,166.75. His allowance is N 5,772,916.8 making the annual salary to be N8,082,083.63. The monthly salary of the deputy senate president is N673,506.97.
The Deputy Senate President gets N32,000 per night as Duty Tour Allowance and $ 1,000 as estacode.
Salaries of Other Senate Members
Salary of the Senate Majority Leader is N12,968,960 annually
Salary of the Minority leader is N12,908,168 annually.
Salary of the Whip is N12,867,000 annually .
Salary of senate commitee Chairmen is N12,867,000 annually.
Salary of ordinary senators is N12,766,320.00 annually.
It is worthy to note that the allowances received by the senators are far more than their salaries. Below is a breakdown of their allowances:
Vehicle and maintenance: 75 percent
Domestic staff : 75 percent
Entertainment: 30 percent
Utilities: 30 percent
Clothing: 25 percent
Constituency allowance : 250 percent
Newspapers: 15 percent
Personal Assistants: 24 percent
House maintenance: 5 percent
All the allowances are paid annually.
The annual responsibility allowance is given to the majority leader, the minority leader, the whip and all the committee chairmen as follows:
Majority Leader: 10 percent
Minority Leader: 7 percent
The Whip: 5 percent
Committee chairmen: 5 percent
All the senators are entitled to 300 percent of the annual salaries as gratuity at the end of their tenure.
According to professor Sagay (SAN), the breakdown of the salary of Nigerian senators is as shown below:
Basic Salary: N2,484,245.50
Hardship allowance: N1,242,122.70
Constituency allowance: N4,968,509.00
Furniture allowance: N7,452,736.50
Newspaper allowance: N1,242,122.70
Wardrobe allowance: N621,061.37
Recess allowance: N248,424.55
Accommodation: N4,968,509.00
Utilities: N828,081.83
Domestic staff: N1,863,184.12
Entertainment: N828,081.83
Personal Assistant: N621,061.37
Vehicle Maintenance Allowance: N1,863,184.12
Leave Allowance: N248,424.55
Severance Gratuity: N7,425,736.50
Motor Vehicle Allowance: N9,936,982.00
The renumerations above for the salary of Nigerian senators is for information purposes and not for criticism.