The deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, suggests that the current salary of Nigerian lawmakers is a far cry from what it is supposed to be.

“At the moment talking about the salary of the National Assembly is not as much as people think, salary is different from allowance, which is meant to do the jobs that the constituents have sent us to do. Nobody is allowed to touch allowances, it is your salary that belongs to you. Allowances have subheadings for which they are meant for. if you use it wrongly when you’re retiring you’ll be sanctioned for that. Talking about the salary of the National Assembly it is a far cry from what it is supposed to be,” he said.

His remarks follow increasing calls to reduce the cost of government.

President Bola Tinubu led government, as part of its effort to cut cost of governance, adopted the white paper from the Stephen Oronsaye 2011 report that recommended that that some federal agencies be scrapped, while others are merged to save cost.