National Assembly takes less than 3 percent of Nigeria's budget

Senator for Lagos East, Senator Tokunbo Abiru says the National Assembly consumes less than three percent of Nigeria’s annual budget.

Abiru stated this while reacting to assertions in some quarters that maintaining the legislature takes up a huge chunk of the nation’s resources.

The former CEO of Polaris Bank said that many people erroneously assume that emoluments of legislators is all there is to the National Assembly’s budget.

He said that besides emoluments of legislators, constituency offices have to be maintained and backroom staff have to be compensated.

“I have heard people say that the emolument of legislators is a huge chunk of the country’s budget. However, the total package of the legislature is under three per cent of the nation’s budget. I have worked out those numbers and I have my facts and figures.

“Also, the pay includes the monthly salaries of legislators and support for their constituency offices. The National Assembly is in Abuja and lawmakers have to shuttle between there and their various constituency offices across the country.

“For somebody like me, my constituency office in Ikorodu is properly manned. Under the federal arrangement, five local government areas are recognised as what make up my constituency but in reality, there are 11 local council development areas.

“In all the local governments in my constituency, I have liaison offices which are manned 24/7. All the people who work there get paid. Taking all those into consideration, I think it is a reasonable pay package to meet the expenses of legislators.”