Akpabio’s Gaffe: Report confirms how much senators shared as 'holidays' allowance

Following the controversial 'token' comment by Senate President Godswill Akapbio, it has been confirmed that Senators received the sum of N2 million as a travelling allowance for their recess until their resumption in September.

As reported by Premium Times, the N2 million travelling allowance was what Senate President Akpabio was referring to when he announced the 'token' that would be paid into the account of the lawmakers at the live plenary session on Monday, August 7.

A lawmaker of the upper chamber of the national assembly confirmed he received N2m as a travelling allowance for eight weeks.

Confirming this development, one of the Senators who preferred anonymity stated that Senators were paid N2 million each after the close of the Monday plenary. It was gathered that all the 109 lawmakers in the upper chamber received the same amount, which amounts to a total of N218 million.

The N2 million allowance is expected to be used by the lawmakers for the next seven weeks until plenary sessions resume on Tuesday, September 26. On the other hand, it has yet to be confirmed if Akpabio and other principal officers got the sum of N2 million as vacation allowance.

Based on the remuneration package approved by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) which places the allowance and salaries of principal officers above the floor members of the Senate.

These principal officers are the senate leader, deputy senate leader, chief whip and deputy chief whip.

Others include minority leader, deputy minority leader, minority whip and deputy minority whip.

How much do Senators and principal officers earn?

According to the package prepared by RMAFC, a senator earns N2,026,400 and therefore gets N202,240 as a recess allowance per annum. The basic salary of the senate president per annum is N2,483,242 and therefore receives N248,424 as recess allowance.

On his part, the deputy senate president earns N2,309,166, and his recess allowance is N230,916.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Senate and the House of Representatives have been asked to publish their bank account details. Comrade Timi Frank, a former spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC), made this call on Thursday, August 10.

He stated that Senators received N30 million, and principal officers received an alert of N45 million as a token for vacation allowance.