FORMER Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba,
on Tuesday defended the controversial allowances popularly known as
jumbo pay being received by federal lawmakers.
The Senator said what Nigerians had continued to describe as jumbo pay was what other arms of government, such as the judiciary and the executive receive as overheads.
He argued that as a Senator of the Federal Republic Nigeria, he had not received any jumbo allowance as he had documentary evidence to prove that he was not being paid any jumbo package.
Ndoma-Egba spoke on the controversial issue while delivering a keynote address entitled on ‘The Nigerian Legislature: Reconnecting with the Public and Challenges of Perception’ at an induction/interaction session for elected members of the Delta State House of Assembly in Abuja on Tuesday.
He said federal lawmakers were perceived negatively because of public misinterpretation of the overhead cost of the National Assembly and the negative lifestyle of some members of the legislature.
He said the recorded incidents of military intervention in the politics of the country and the suspension of the executive arm of government for 28 years did not help matters as it had whittled down the magnitude of importance of the legislature before the public.
Ndoma-Egba, who said public perception of lawmakers in the country was unfavourable and even hostile, added that legislators were not assessed and judged by their primary responsibilities but by issues that were extraneous to their role as lawmakers.
He said, “Speaking for myself as a senator, I don’t earn any jumbo pay. I have my pay slips. Now the matter is in court so I will not comment much. What has been ascribed to the legislators as jumbo pay is what in other arms of government you refer to over heads.
“The cost of running the institution is said to be part of my salary and allowance.
“A number of factors are responsible for this hostile perception. Some of the factors are self-inflicted and others are historical. In 1999 when the senators were to move to their Apo quarters, the FCDA proposed to furnish the houses with N12m each and the senators said no that amount was too high.
“Give us N3.5m and we will renovate our houses by ourselves. What went to the public? They said the lawmakers wanted to steal N3.5m. Nobody ever spoke about the people who proposed to do the renovation for N12m. So the image stocked.”
Also, the Governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, decried the high turnover of lawmakers in the April general elections.
Uduaghan said it was pertinent for lawmakers to spend long periods in the house to garner experience which was important for the development of legislative arm of government and the actualisation of the desired development in the country.
The Delta State governor also urged lawmakers across the country to give the deserved attention to the high expectations of their constituents in the performance of their legislative functions in the country.
By Fidelis Soriwei Courtesy Of: Punch
The Senator said what Nigerians had continued to describe as jumbo pay was what other arms of government, such as the judiciary and the executive receive as overheads.
He argued that as a Senator of the Federal Republic Nigeria, he had not received any jumbo allowance as he had documentary evidence to prove that he was not being paid any jumbo package.
Ndoma-Egba spoke on the controversial issue while delivering a keynote address entitled on ‘The Nigerian Legislature: Reconnecting with the Public and Challenges of Perception’ at an induction/interaction session for elected members of the Delta State House of Assembly in Abuja on Tuesday.
He said federal lawmakers were perceived negatively because of public misinterpretation of the overhead cost of the National Assembly and the negative lifestyle of some members of the legislature.
He said the recorded incidents of military intervention in the politics of the country and the suspension of the executive arm of government for 28 years did not help matters as it had whittled down the magnitude of importance of the legislature before the public.
Ndoma-Egba, who said public perception of lawmakers in the country was unfavourable and even hostile, added that legislators were not assessed and judged by their primary responsibilities but by issues that were extraneous to their role as lawmakers.
He said, “Speaking for myself as a senator, I don’t earn any jumbo pay. I have my pay slips. Now the matter is in court so I will not comment much. What has been ascribed to the legislators as jumbo pay is what in other arms of government you refer to over heads.
“The cost of running the institution is said to be part of my salary and allowance.
“A number of factors are responsible for this hostile perception. Some of the factors are self-inflicted and others are historical. In 1999 when the senators were to move to their Apo quarters, the FCDA proposed to furnish the houses with N12m each and the senators said no that amount was too high.
“Give us N3.5m and we will renovate our houses by ourselves. What went to the public? They said the lawmakers wanted to steal N3.5m. Nobody ever spoke about the people who proposed to do the renovation for N12m. So the image stocked.”
Also, the Governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, decried the high turnover of lawmakers in the April general elections.
Uduaghan said it was pertinent for lawmakers to spend long periods in the house to garner experience which was important for the development of legislative arm of government and the actualisation of the desired development in the country.
The Delta State governor also urged lawmakers across the country to give the deserved attention to the high expectations of their constituents in the performance of their legislative functions in the country.
By Fidelis Soriwei Courtesy Of: Punch
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