TheCable

Yakubu Dogara, speaker of the federal house of the representatives, says he is not aware that legislators earn jumbo salaries, saying he gets “confused” whenever he hears reports of huge allowances that lawmakers get.

Addressing journalists on Friday shortly after paying a courtesy visit to Simon Lalong, governor of Plateau state, the speaker advised anyone who needs clarification on the entitlements of lawmakers to contact the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), which is in charge of fixing salaries for public servants.

“I do know that our salary is not in the region of N1 million per month,” he said.

“When I hear about jumbo pay for legislators I get confused. The issue of salary is quite clear because we don’t fix our salaries; it is the responsibility of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission to do that.

“Any Nigerian that wants the information can take the benefit of the freedom of information act to request for this information from the commission.”

Dogara said he was aware of discussions relating to the allowances of members of the national assembly, adding that the lower chamber was ready to “put the matter on the front burner as soon as it settled down for work”.

He said in conjunction with a competent civil society organisation, the lower chamber would conduct a legislative needs assessment with the objective of making Nigerians know the true status of things in the national assembly.

Dogara assured his colleagues that his leadership of the green chamber would be fair and just in the distribution of committees to members.

The speaker said in the past, the house operated as “one family” and his administration was willing to keep the tradition.

“We will do everything possible to ensure that from zonal level, there is fairness in whatever we do there up to the state level,” he said.

“And once we achieve that, we are 100 per cent guaranteed that there will be stability even though politics is all about resolving conflicts. Conflicts arise as a result of human imperfection; we will never run away from conflicts but we will always rise above conflicts.”