Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Femi Falana, said on Thursday that the public perception that members of the National Assembly were overpaid would not change so long as they did not disclose their full salaries and allowances.
Falana spoke at a ceremony organised by the House of Representatives in Abuja to mark the second anniversary of the 7th Assembly (2011-2013).
Speaking on the topic, ‘Public Perception of the 7th House of Representatives’, he expressed surprise that an appeal was entered against a Federal High Court decision that on the strength of the Freedom of Information Act 201, it was appropriate for lawmakers to disclose their pay package.
Falana, who advised that the appeal should be withdrawn, added that pursuing the case further would create the impression that there might be something to hide.
According to him, Nigerians had taken a cue from the declaration by Prof. Itse Sagay that their lawmakers were the highest paid in the world, a reason they pestered them with demands daily.
He said, “Disclose your salaries and allowances so that the secrecy surrounding it will become a thing of the past.
“This is the reason you are constantly harassed in your constituencies each time you visit them.
“It is called jumbo pay in the media.”
Falana observed that while the entire National Assembly and its bureaucracy budgeted N150bn for their operations yearly, a single agency in the executive arm, the Central Bank of Nigeria, budgeted over N300bn.
Other speakers at the event like Prof. Jonah Elaigwu and Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, commended the House for defending its independence in the last two years.
However, they asked the lawmakers to fight corruption by exposing their own members suspected to be corrupt.
A former Speaker of the House, Mr. Ghali Umar-Na’Abba, and President of the Nigerian Labour Congress, Mr. Absulwaheed Omar, cautioned against the “new” trend of interferences with internal affairs of political parties.
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