N8.5m monthly allowance not enough for us–Reps

The N8.5 million monthly running cost that members of the House of Representatives receive is insufficient, a lawmaker has said.

Oluwole Oke, who represents Oriade Federal Constituency of Osun State, stated this in an interview with Punch Newspaper.

The lawmaker admitted that the running cost is different from the N606,000 he earns as monthly salary as a federal lawmaker.

In comparison, a civil servant on the N30,000 minimum wage will have to work for 24 years to earn what an House of Represenatatives member earns as running cost monthly.

It is even worse in the case of senators who earn N13.5 million monthly as running cost. In that case, a civil servant on the minimum wage would have to work for 37 years to earn what a senator earns monthly.

The N30,000 minimum wage only came into place in April. Before then, the minimum wage was N18,000.

Despite the huge discrepancy between what lawmakers earn and what other public officials earn, Mr Oke still belives the running cost is too low.

“How much is N8.5 million to me as a person?” he said.

“If you have to embark on research, looking at all the bills that I have sponsored in the House, you will see that those bills that I sponsored are not ones you can just come by anyhow.