ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – Members of the House of Representatives have agreed to cut their salaries by 50 percent for six months as part of their solidarity and sacrifice to support the economic hardship and hunger Nigerians are going through at the moment.
The speaker inferred that each lawmaker’s salary was about N600,000 monthly.
The Deputy Speaker had proposed an amendment to a motion appealing to young Nigerians planning a protest as a result of the hardship in the country, saying members should consider sacrificing 50 percent of their pay to address hunger in the land.
Kalu’s amended prayer was to a motion by Rep Isiaka Ayokunle calling on proponents of the planned nationwide protests to jettison the idea and engage the government in dialogue.
The deputy Speaker said the salary cut is to be used to support federal government’s efforts to address rising cost of food stuffs in the country with the view to ameliorating the hardship Nigerians are going through.
The Speaker commended members for their resolve to sacrifice part of their salaries to address hunger in the land just as some members asked the Executive to also make sacrifices in line with what the Lawmakers have done.
By slashing their salaries by 50%, the 360 lawmakers will be sacrificing N108 million monthly for the next six months.
The motion was adopted and referred to the committees on Humanitarian Affairs, Finance and Budget for compliance.
