The Senator representing Bornu south, Ali Ndume has faulted growing calls for the slashing of jumbo salaries being earned by members of the National Assembly (NASS).
Senator Ndume who was a guest on Channels Television Hard Copy said he believes lawmakers jumbo emoluments do not have any effect on Nigeria’s economy.
According to him, Nigerians should tone down calls for a slash because members of the National Assembly only got N128 billion allocation in the 2021 budget of N13 trillion.
“It has no effect on the economy. For me, call out the National Assembly, cancel the NASS. That means you have N128 billion reduction but does that make any difference? Because this thing (calls for the reduction of National Assembly members’ pay) is getting too much for people like me that have come out to serve; not because I came out to be rich.”
The former member of the house of representative further argued that no lawmaker became rich by being a member of the National Assembly.
“No lawmaker, go and check the record, has come out and become a rich man because he was one time a legislator, go and check,” he argued.
“I joined politics in 2003. Go and ask people, my lifestyle has not really changed. The cost of governance is the problem. The cost of governance at all levels including the National Assembly,” the lawmaker added. “But you cannot be talking about the expensive nature of governance, isolating only the National Assembly.”
He also noted that the budgetary allocation for members of the National Assembly would not only cater for salaries but overhead cost and the payment of staff.
See the video below.
