As stated in this column two weeks ago, the salaries and allowances of the members of the National Assembly and the 36 States’ Houses of Assembly, I gave were obtained from documents on the internet released by the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMFAC). The commission says a senator in a year earns N2.02million (N2, 026, 400 million) as basic salary, N333, 333 for accommodation and other allowances which total N10.9million (N10, 913, 149). In other words, the nation spends a total of N13.2 million (N13, 272, 882) per annum on each of the 109 members in the Senate.

The RMFAC placed the money for a senator’s accommodation with the other allowances received every four years, but states that it is paid annually. This is why I removed it from the allowances received every four years and placed it along with the basic salary and other allowances a senator earns in a year. Thus reducing the four – yearly amount paid as allowances from N24, 090, 000 in the document to N20, 090, 000.

Indeed, I am surprised that the figures released by Senator Shehu Sani last week conflict with those given by the RMAFC. Instead of N2, 026, 400 he says a senator’s basic salary is N700, 000 per annum with the allowances totaling N13.5 million (N13, 500, 000.00). This shows that a senator’s cumulative earnings in a year is N14, 200, 000.

Another difference in the RMAFC’s report and Senator Sani’s disclosure is that while the commission has it that a senator gets five million naira a year as constituency allowance, he says the amount is actually two hundred million naira. This means that the senators unilaterally increased the amount by one hundred and ninety-five million naira which the Federal Military Government of General Abdulsalami Abubakar approved before leaving office on May 28, 1999. It also shows that instead of N13, 272, 882 million RMAFC gave as the total money earned by a senator annually, the figure is actually N213, 272, 882 a year.

The discrepancies in the figures released by the RMAFC and Senator Sani show that there is a need for the Federal Government to have a panel to probe how much the legislators in the National Assembly and the Houses of Assembly in the 36 States earn every year. And it also raises the question of if the National Assembly members have the power to increase their constituency allowance without passing a bill to that effect and referring it to the President of the country for assent or rejection?

The other issue is that it is the Federal Government that releases the money paid to the legislators in the country. So, why did it not raise objection to the senators raising their constituency allowance from five million naira to two hundred million naira before Senator Sani came up with his disclosure.

A year or two ago, Professor Itse Sagay said that the legislators in the Senate and House of Representatives earn exorbitant basic salaries and allowances. There was hue and cry (loud outcry) across the nation at the time. But Senator Sani did not come out to disclose the amount a senator earns cumulatively in a month or in a year. So, why is he doing so now?

I believe the reason is because of my present series that shows that the country is teetering towards a revolution and that Otunba Gani Adams, the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yoruba land and other activists across the nation should organize civil disobedience. A point also made recently by the Ooni of Ife, His Royal Majesty Adeyeye Ogunwusi and Professor Ango Abdullahi, a leader in the Northern Elders Forum and a former Vice – Chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria who also said the nation was tottering towards revolution. The latter even said a revolution may occur sooner or later if the country does not urgently return to the parliamentary system of the colonial era (1951 – 60) and the First Republic (October 1, 1960 – January, 14, 1966).

Now that Nigerians have come to know how much a legislator at the national and state levels earns in a year, the parliamentarians can see the reactions of people across the country in the last one week. They should therefore not deceive themselves that a revolution cannot take place in Nigeria and that people would soon become complacent and the issue will not be talked about again in a few days or weeks time. I do not think so.

For continuation next week