The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has called on the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC, to consider providing more information to Nigerians on the difference between the salary and allowances of legislators.
Gbajabiamila made the plea on Thursday in Abuja when he received a delegation from the RMAFC at the National Assembly led by its chairman, Alhaji Mohammed Bello Shehu.
The Speaker of the Green Chamber observed that the controversy over the pay of lawmakers and making it a public debate all the time was caused by the lumping of the salaries and allowances of lawmakers together.
According to Gbajabiamila, allowances are tied to sundry duties or work of the office of a lawmaker like maintaining a constituency office, while the salary is the actual pay he earns as a legislator.
“You need to explain to the public the difference between salary and allowances. A lot of people lump them together and call them our take-home package. Salary is different and allowances are meant for many other issues.
“This explanation should be part of what you are working on right now regarding the judiciary and political office holders”, he said.
He also advised RMAFC to build a central monitoring platform to monitor revenue movements in all government revenue-generating agencies, while demanding that it submit a detailed proposal on its needs to enable the House to work on it speedily.
