Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, has said that members of the National Assembly are feeling the pulse of the nation and are willing to make adjustments in their salaries as a necessary sacrifice to help their constituents cope with the current economic realities in the country.
He recalled that the parliament made similar sacrifices in 2020 to help cushion the effects of economic hardship occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kalu Speaker made the submission while responding to critical questions on the adoption of the Steven Orosanye report by the federal government to merge some agencies with the aim of cutting the cost of running the government on Channels TV programme, ‘Politics Today’, on Monday night in Abuja.
A statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the Deputy Speaker, Levinus Nwabughiogu, on Tuesday, quoted Kalu as saying that although the salaries and allowance that the members of the parliament receive cannot actually take them home to do their jobs in their various constituencies, they are, however, always ready to put the nation and their constituents first in their consideration.
He said that the leadership of the 10th National Assembly is a selfless one and was willing to make necessary sacrifices for the good of the country.
He said: “I can assure you like we call it the people’s parliament, the pulse of the nation determines what we do. If we found out that people were suffering and we needed to make sacrifices, we will able to identify with the people. I can assure you as well that we are not hoping that this crisis we are going through will linger for a very long time. When you have sound government policies, it doesn’t end with policy pronouncements. We need to give timeline for the maturation of that policy.
“At the moment, the salary of National Assembly members is not as much as people think. Salary is different from allowance which is meant to do the jobs the constituents have sent us to do. Nobody is allowed to touch allowances; it is your salary that belongs to you. Allowances have what they are meant for. If you use it wrongly, you will be sanctioned for that.
“However, I can assure you of the selflessness of those leading the National Assembly. They are willing to adjust if needs be. If that’s what will help Nigerians move to the next level. We didn’t elect ourselves to be here, we were voted by our constituents. I assure you that when we feel their pulse and we see that through critical analysis that’s unbiased that it is what will plug the gaps, we will do that,” Kalu stated.
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