How Nigerian Lawmakers Loot Country's Treasury Through Exorbitant Allowances - Activist, Olabode

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara has been challenged to publish details of his allowances and not just his basic salary so as not to deceive Nigerians.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara

 

A human rights activist and social crusader, Comrade Olamide Olabode, has accused Nigerian lawmakers of looting the country's treasury through their undisclosed allowances. Olabode challenged the lawmakers to publish details of their allowances for all to see.

 

Olabode in an interview with Daily Post described the published basic salary of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara as a display of “comical talent” and not a serious way of showcasing transparency and accountability in governance.

 

According to him, the silence on the, “bogus allowance” accruing to the office of the speaker, and the temerity to publish only basic salary is a further reflection of the antics of deception amongst lawmakers.

 

According to him, if the Speaker was sincere, he would have published the basic salary and all allowances he has been receiving for the past six months.

 

The human rights activist added that the revelation in recent past that 25% of the total National Expenditure goes to the National Assembly could be correct going by the “secrecy of remuneration,” adopted by the parliamentarians.

 

“The inchoate publication by Dogara, in his compelled mood, as a result of challenge from Governor El-rufai signals that something shady is going on in the National Assembly, with regards to their remuneration, especially the alleged outrageous allowances they take at the peril of Nigerian people.

 

"The speed in which the speaker sent his salary details to the press without allowances clearly indicates that allowances accruing to lawmakers are too bitter for Nigerian consumption, which expectedly makes it undisclosed.

 

“Nigerians should begin to ask questions about the 25% of our National Expenditure that was lately alleged goes to the National Assembly, if we really want a clearer change.

 

” I believe the leadership of the National Assembly should do more to convince Nigerians that the name former president Olusegun Obasanjo called them sometimes ago is not their appropriate identity,” Olabode said.

 

Also, Olabode tackled Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-rufai to stop deceiving Nigerians and ]publish his aggregate security vote, and not its expenditure if he is to be taken serious.