Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, revealed on Wednesday that lawmakers’ monthly earnings can only sustain them for a maximum of three days. He called for greater transparency in legislative finances to dispel misconceptions about their salaries.
Dogara made these remarks during the inaugural legislative open week of the House in Abuja. The People’s Democratic Party chieftain disclosed that his monthly salary as a Representative was less than N400,000, while his monthly allowance as a presiding officer was N25 million. He emphasized that despite popular belief, these allowances are quickly exhausted due to the high demands placed on legislators.
“While I was Speaker, my salary was less than N400,000. I don’t know if it has been increased now. My total impress was N25 million, and I instructed my accountant to open a separate account for it. I never once took any money out of that account. Everything was used to cater to the needs of constituents,” Dogara said.
He added, “My accountant complained about the high demand on the account, and I told him to borrow if the funds were depleted. When money came in, it was returned to the original source. I am sharing this to show Nigerians that the narrative about members’ pay is not true.”
Dogara urged Nigerians to give legislators some “breathing space” and acknowledge that democracy, while expensive, is necessary. He suggested that if the cost of democracy is deemed too high, political scientists should be tasked with developing a more affordable local model.
This statement comes after recent comments from Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, who highlighted that the current salaries of federal lawmakers are insufficient for the responsibilities they are elected to fulfill. Kalu stressed that the actual take-home pay is far less than public perception and argued against calls to slash salaries by 50 percent, asserting that this is not the solution to the existing issues.
Kalu stated, “At the moment, talking about the salary of the National Assembly, it is not as much as people think. Salary is different from allowance, which is meant to do the jobs our constituents have sent us to do.”
