A suspended member of the House of Representatives, Abdulmumin Jibrin, has faulted the pay slip published by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, as understating his emoluments.
He said that if the payslip published by the speaker was authentic, it means he as a member earns more than the speaker, who is the head and presiding officer of the House.
Jibrin stated this in a series of tweets early yesterday, less than 24 hours after Dogara published his payslips in response to a challenge by Kaduna state Governor, Nasir El-Rufai.
“If what I saw is the authentic pay slip of Mr. Speaker, it means I earn more than him from what I see in my salary statement of account,” Jibrin tweeted.
“Perhaps I have been overpaid,” he said.
The lawmaker said he has requested for his payslip from National Assembly and will publish it alongside his monthly salary statement of account.
He, however, agreed with the response of Dogara to Governor El-Rufai, saying the National Assembly had agencies under it too.
“As regard NASS budget, I completely agree with paragraph 9, 10 and 11 but will raise issues on paragraph 5, 6, and the payslip,” Jibrin tweeted.
“The statement failed to address the call by Nigerians and majority of members for Mr. Speaker to disclose details of our internal budget. Beside salaries, allowances and running cost, no member has details of about 20 other expenditure heads captured in Namdas’ statement.
“I am aware majority of members feel terribly embarrassed and are presently insisting on having access to the internal budget of the House.”
“The details of INEC budget do not just exist elsewhere. The NASS scrutinises and approves details of INEC budget every year. Mr. Speaker, you know that NILS HQ is not completely funded from NASS allocation but part funded by FG under service wide vote.”
Messrs. Jibrin and Dogara, formerly close allies, had been at loggerheads for almost a year, which lead to the former’s subsequent suspension.
Jibrin was the chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, but was removed to set off the events that culminated in his one year suspension from the House.
He raised issues of padding of the 2016 federal budget against Dogara and other officials who denied the accusations. (Premium Times)
