Abbo: N29m running cost not enough for a senator

Elisha Abbo, a former senator representing Adamawa north, says the over N20 million running cost for senators is not enough.

Abbo said this on Sunday when he appeared on Arise Television.

The former lawmaker said while he was at the senate, his salaries, allowances and running cost put together was N14.4 million.

He said the sum was not enough to address the challenges being faced by his constituents in the north-eastern state of Nigeria.

“Cumulatively, when I was in the senate, all the allowances put together was N14.4 million per month,” he said.

“My salary was one point something million naira. You have wardrobe allowances, you have your vehicle allowances, you have other allowances put together and it was N14.4 million.

“It is about N29 million now, N29 million looks big on paper – I am saying this as an honest man and I am not trying to support the national assembly, an institution so vilified, and I have been a member of that vilified institution for five years, but I will bare the facts on the table. It [N29 million] is not humongous.

“When I was in the senate, my salaries and allowances together were N14.4 million and at the end of the month – a company I founded which I was the CEO after I won election I had to leave the company and go into governance.

“I had to start subsidising my own life because the money that was allocated to my office was N14 million which was nothing considering the demands, wants, and challenges faced by my constituents on a daily basis.”

N21 MILLION RUNNING COST

Recently, Kawu Sumaila, senator representing Kano south, said the running cost for every senator is N21 million.

“In the senate, each senator is given N21 million every month as the cost of running his office,” Sumaila said.

In reaction to Sumaila’s comments, Yemi Adaramodu, spokesperson of the upper legislative chamber, says the “running cost” senators receive are not personal entitlements.

The senate spokesperson said any additional cost they incur in the course of their job is retired and is not an entitlement of a senator.