It's Time To Make Your Salaries & Allowances Public ––Falana Tasks National Assembly

Popular human rights activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, 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.

“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 stated this 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Falana, who advised that the appeal should be withdrawn, added that pursuing the case further would create the impression that there is indeed something to hide about the money they take home.

Falana said while the entire National Assembly and its bureaucracy budgeted N150bn for their operations yearly, a single agency in the executive, the Central Bank of Nigeria, budgeted over N300bn.

He said this goes to show that their is so much waste of Nigeria's money by the executive.