Lawan: Senators, House Members Earn N1.5m, N1.3m Monthly Salary

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

President of the Senate, Dr Ahmad Lawan, has made public, the salaries and emoluments scale of members of the legislature, saying a Senator earned N1.5 million monthly while his counterpart in the House of Representatives took home N1.3 million as salary.

Lawan, who made this disclosure in Abuja yesterday at the First Distinguished Parliamentarians Lecture Series organised by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies, said the N13 million thrown into the public space a few years back as the monthly salary of a Senator was actually their quarterly office running allowance.

His words: “The total salary of a member of the Senate is about N1.5m while that of the House of Representatives is about N1.3m. The quarterly office allowance for legislators is what is erroneously conflicted with a monthly income to create confusion and mislead the Nigerians. The average office running cost for a senator is about N13m while that of a member of the House of Representatives is N8m.”

Lawan emphasised that the N13m and the N8m quarterly office running cost for a member of the Senate and House of Representatives respectively, were the lowest of any Presidential democracy in the world.

According to him, the allowances cover costs of local/international travel, consulting of professional services, medical services, office stationeries/computers, consumables, books, newspapers, magazines, maintenance of motor vehicles and office equipment, among others.