Senator Dino Melaye from the APC has explained why Nigerian senators won’t reduce their salaries.
As stated by him, the stepping down of the report was done in order to carry the House of Representatives and other organs of the National Assembly along.
Melaye added that the budget of the Senate was not separated from the entire National Assembly.
“The Senate today, in closed door session, discussed the report of the ad hoc Committee on finances of the Senate, and after due deliberations by the senators, we came to the conclusion that since the budget of the Senate is not independent of the budget of the National Assembly, where the budget of the House of Representatives is also inclusive,” Senator Dino Melaye stated.
“We have the management, we have the NILS, we have even the Public Accounts, we also have the National Assembly Civil Service Commission, we have agreed that we should consult amongst other arms that share the budget of the NASS, with the House of Representatives before we would draw a conclusion on the report. So, the resolution is that we are going to interface with the House of Representatives so that we can be on the same page on the report as presented. This is the resolution of the Senate today in closed door session.”
Recall that a committee was constituted to realign the finance of lawmakers to reflect the present economic realities in the country.
It should be also noted that President Muhammadu Buhari and his vice Yemi Osinbajo will only receive 50% of the salary paid to predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan.