The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the President of the Senate Godswill Akpabio, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas to disclose the exact monthly running costs allotted to members of the National Assembly.
The group’s demand is coming on the heels of the recent controversy surrounding the salary of Senators.
The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission had claimed that the salary of a Senator was around N1.06m monthly but Senator Sumaila Kawu had in a different interview argued that his total take home was N21m.
Reacting, Deputy Director of SERAP, Kolawole Oluwadare, in a statement urged the National Assembly leadership to promptly disclose the total amount of running costs that have so far been paid to lawmakers and to ensure the return of any misused or mismanaged public funds.
SERAP also advised the NASS leaders to also put an end to the “alleged practice of paying running costs into the personal accounts of lawmakers,”
Oluwadare warned that failure to heed their request in seven days, it would take appropriate legal actions to compel lawmakers to comply with their request in the public interest.
