EXCLUSIVE REPORTS - N30,000 mimium wage; 469 senators, reps to pocket 191,954 civil servants’ monthly salaries

The monthly salaries of the 469 lawmakers in the two chambers of Nigeria ’ s National Assembly will pay the monthly salaries of 191 , 954 civil servants in the country , at the rate of N30, 000 new minimum wage , SUNDAY PUNCH has found .

It was also gathered that the lawmakers earn far more than their counterparts in other parts of the world , including developed countries .

Nigeria ’ s bicameral legislature comprises 109 senators and 360 members of the House of Representatives drawn from across the country .

Meanwhile , the annual take-home pay of a member of the House of Representatives , the lower chamber of the National Assembly , stands at N136 . 68 m at a monthly take-home pay of N11 . 39m .

At the Central Bank of Nigeria ’ s exchange rate of N305 to a dollar , a member of the House of Representatives earns $ 37, 341 . 53 per month and $ 448 , 098 per annum .

In the upper legislative chamber , a senator’ s take-home pay is N182 , 060 , 000 per annum at the rate of N15, 171 , 666 . 66 a month, which translate to $ 596 , 918 . 03 per annum and $ 49, 743 . 17 per month respectively .

The Federal Government had recently increased the country’ s minimum wage from N18 , 000 to N30, 000 ( $ 98 . 36) . Even though it has yet to be implemented , when it eventually takes effect, the emolument of a senator would be 505 . 72 times the minimum wage .

This also means that a senator’ s monthly take-home pay can pay the salaries of 506 workers earning the minimum wage while that of a representative can pay that of 380 workers .

This implies that the monthly salaries of the 109 senators would pay the salaries of 55 , 154 civil servants at N30 , 000 per month while the salaries of the 360 members of the House of Representatives would pay the salaries of 136 , 800 civil servants .

In a related development , the emoluments of lawmakers in Nigeria are more than what many other lawmakers take across the globe , even in economically advanced nations where per capita income is much higher than that of Nigeria .

Per capita income , also known as average income , measures the average income earned per person in any given geographical location. If the gross domestic product of a country is divided by the population , what each individual gets is the per capita income .

Thus , Nigeria ’ s per capita income is $ 2 , 049 .

Also , the take-home pay of a Nigerian senator is therefore 281 . 56 times higher than the country’ s per capita income , while that of a member of the House of Representatives is 218 . 69 times higher than the per capita income.

But in the United States, for instance , where per capita income is $ 60 , 200 ( as of 2017 ) , the 435 congressmen and 100 senators take basically the same amount , that is $ 174 , 000 per annum , which is only 2 . 89 times the country ’ s per capita income.

In effect , therefore , despite the fact that the per capita income of the United States is 29 . 38 times higher than Nigeria ’ s , the emolument of a Nigerian senator is 3 . 43 times higher than their US counterpart . And for the lower chamber , the emolument of a representative in Nigeria is 2 . 57 times higher than what a member of the US House of Representatives earns.

The minimum wage in the United States, which has a population of about 327 . 2 million people , is $ 7 . 25 per hour and that translates to about $ 1 , 160 ( N353 , 800 ) per month. But in Nigeria , with about 180 million people, the minimum wage is still N18 , 000 ( $ 59. 02 ) per month.

However , the United States has a Gross Domestic Product of $ 21. 3 tn as of 2018 , being the largest economy in the world while Nigeria has GDP of $ 375 . 8 bn as of 2017 .

In neighbouring Ghana , lawmakers get GHS 11 , 000 per month. This translates to $ 2 , 048 . 36 or ( N624 , 749 . 8 ) per month. Ghana has a unicameral legislature with 275 members that serve its 28 . 83 million people. It has a GDP of $ 65 . 56bn ( 2018 ) and per capita income of $ 4 , 490 , more than two times Nigeria ’ s per capita income .

At $ 37, 341 . 53 per month for their lawmakers , the earnings of a member of Nigeria ’ s House of Representatives is 18 . 23 times higher than what a Ghanaian lawmaker earns while that of a senator is 24 . 29 times higher.

The minimum wage in the West African country which joined the league of oil producing countries a few years ago is GHc 9 . 68 per day , which translates to $ 290 . 4 per month.

When Ghanaian lawmakers called for wage increase a few years ago , some of them argued that they were poorly remunerated when compared to what Nigerian lawmakers earned .

The United Kingdom runs a parliamentary system of government , which implies that some of their cabinet members are parliamentarians . It has the House of Lords as well as the House of Commons .

Members of the House of Lords who are appointed ( or by inheritance ) do not take any salary . However , they could claim £ 300 as sitting allowance . The ordinary member earns a salary of £ 79, 468 per annum which translates to $ 99 , 952 . 86 .

The House of Commons is made up of 650 members that serve the country with a population of 66. 04 million ( 2017 ) people.

The official site of the United Kingdom ’ s parliament said , “ The basic annual salary for an MP ( Member of Parliament ) from 1 April 2019 is £ 79 , 468 . MPs also receive expenses to cover the costs of running an office , employing staff, having somewhere to live in London or their constituency , and travelling between parliament and their constituency . ”

According to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority , which regulates and administers what accrues to British parliamentarians , the earnings of British parliamentarians are adjusted every year on April 1 to reflect current economic realities in the country .

It noted that annual changes in MPs ’ pay were linked to changes in the average earnings in the public sector using Office for National Statistics figures .

Current statistics show that the per capita income of Britain stands at $ 43, 160 , which is 21 . 06 times higher than Nigeria ’ s per capita income . The country has a GDP of $ 2 . 62 tn .

Kenya is reportedly one of the countries in Africa where lawmakers earn outsized incomes . Report from Africa Check showed that the country ’ s lawmakers get $ 7 , 200 per month.

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