A human rights activist and social crusader, Comrade Olamide Olabode, has challenged members of the National Assembly to publish several allowances accruing to the lawmakers. He alleged that Nigerian treasury has been depleted by the lawmakers through huge and undisclosed allowances.
Olabode in an interview with DAILY POST described the published basic salary of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara as a display of “comical talent” and not a serious way of showcasing transparency and accountability in governance.
According to him, the silence on the, “bogus allowance” accruing to the office of the speaker, and the temerity to publish only basic salary is a further reflection of the antics of deception amongst lawmakers.
He opined that the publication of accumulated take home of the speaker, which comprises the basic salary and all allowances could have truly presented him as transparent and worthy representative of his constituency and Nigeria at large, in his capacity as the head of the lower chamber.
The human rights activist added that the revelation in recent past that 25% of the total National Expenditure goes to the National Assembly could be correct going by the “secrecy of remuneration,” adopted by the parliamentarians.
“The inchoate publication by Dogara, in his compelled mood, as a result of challenge from Governor El-rufai signals that something shady is going on in the National Assembly, with regards to their remuneration, especially the alleged outrageous allowances they take at the peril of Nigerian people.
” The speed in which the speaker sent his salary details to the press without allowances clearly indicates that allowances accruing to lawmakers are too bitter for Nigerian consumption, which expectedly makes it undisclosed.
“Nigerians should begin to ask questions about the 25% of our National Expenditure that was lately alleged goes to the National Assembly, if we really want a clearer change.
” I believe the leadership of the National Assembly should do more to convince Nigerians that the name former president Olusegun Obasanjo called them sometimes ago is not their appropriate identity,” Olabode said.
He, however, challenged the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-rufai to publish his aggregate security vote, and not its expenditure, for him to be taken seriously for being in the vanguard of anti-corruption and good governance.
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