FORMER Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has said contrary to public opinion, he earned a total allowance of ₦25m while in office.
Dogara who represented the Bogoro/Dass/Tafawa Balewa Federal constituency of Bauchi State, served as the 13th Speaker of the House from 2015 to 2019.
He, however, did not specify whether the ₦25m total allowance was monthly, yearly, or for the whole of the four years spent in the House.
Speaking during an event in Abuja on Wednesday, he wondered where the idea of National Assembly members receiving bogus salaries emanated from.
“My allowances, everything as a Speaker then, was ₦25 million. I asked my accountant to open an account for this money because this money was not mine,” he said.
“Even we talk about the allowances the people think are humongous, Mr Speaker forgive me, the House should forgive me.”
The issue of how funds are processed in the National Assembly has been on the front burner of national discourse for a long time. Some Nigerians believe that federal lawmakers receive a jumbo package amid the worsening poverty in the country.
Though the exact salaries of the federal lawmakers have not been made public, the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) said in June 2023, that the salaries of politicians, judicial and public office holders would be increased by 114 per cent.
But Dogara maintained that while in office, he never earned up to ₦400,000 as his monthly salary.
“I don’t know whether they have increased it but when I was there, my salary was not up to ₦400,000 a month. So a young man in my constituency said, ‘You mean this is your salary? I can even hire you to work for me.
“Honestly speaking, there was never a time I took one naira out of that account home. As a matter of fact, there was never a time that money lasted three days. I am saying this so that even Honourable members who are here should let the Speaker and Deputy Speaker breathe
“Whatever a member gets, citizens must know this. No matter how stingy that member is because of expectations from our citizens, it is very difficult for that money to last for a month in the hands of that member,” Dogara added.
