A newly-obtained National Assembly spending document cited N1.8 million on newspapers. N10 million for domestic trips. N1.5 million to maintain a computer — every three months; and 9 similar expenses as leading justifications for the multi-million naira payouts lawmakers rake in monthly or every 3 months as “running cost”.
Titled: “Application for the Retirement of Fund,” the document offers Nigerians a fair idea of how a typical Nigerian senator spends their running cost on what anti-corruption activists are describing as “selfish, misguided and wasteful” use of public funds.
Premium Times says it obtained the document from a former senator who was in office between 2011 and 2015 when senators were still receiving N45 million every 3 months. He asked that his identity be protected to avoid backlash from his constituents, serving lawmakers or their supporters.
Yet, his spending at the time, which remained exactly the same for two quarters, still reflects the prevailing pattern of how lawmakers use running cost, widely known by Nigerians as “jumbo pay”.
Cumulatively, the 109 lawmakers at the Senate received about N314 billion in so-called running cost between 1999 and 2016, and N53 billion so far within the past three years under President Muhammadu Buhari, according to Premium Times.
The expenses are several times what the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) legally recommends for lawmakers. Also, there are provisions already for many of the items in the proper National Assembly budget.
The document surfaced in the wake of revelations by Shehu Sani, a senator from Kaduna State who said lawmakers earned N13.5 million monthly in running cost, provoking public anger at federal lawmakers for their profligate use of public funds.
Sani, at the time explained that while lawmakers are not advised on how to spend the huge amount, they are expected to show evidence of how the money was spent.
That is “funds retirement” in public service parlance, and it is required for book-keeping. For the National Assembly, retiring funds is not meant to check frivolous spending but as a safeguard should external investigators or auditors show up in future.