Professor Itse Sagay, says he earns N200,000 per month as the
Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption
while the four other members of the committee earn N160,000 per
month.
Sagay, who has been at the vanguard of condemnation of
outrageous allowances being earned by lawmakers revealed this while
responding to a challenge to also revealed his own earning in the
spirit of transparency by the Punch newspaper.
The Law Professor however insisted that Nigerian lawmakers are
earning far above the N13.5m monthly running cost recently
confirmed by Senator Shehu Sani.
“The information I am getting informally is that the NASS
leaders are earning between N800m and N1bn as running cost every
year. I don’t have concrete information yet, but from a very
reliable source, that’s what I’m hearing. Once I have the concrete
evidence, I will release it,” Sagay said.
He also defended by President Buhari and Vice President
Osinbajo, arguing that unlike members of the National Assembly,
they are not earning any form of extravagant allowance.
“I can confirm to you that the two are earning just their basic
salaries, around N1.7m per month for the President and a little
less for the Vice President.
“Anything else that is voted for their offices doesn’t go into
their accounts. They don’t see the money.
“That’s the difference between them and the lawmakers. In the
National Assembly, these people are handling cash.
He added that Nigeria is not yet ‘matured enough’ for former
presidents like Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan who
allegedly looted the treasury to be put on trial.
“It will take a long time, when we’ve developed and become more
mature, to do that kind of thing. Right now, if you touch a former
president, the storm that it will bring will be so diversionary and
disturbing that it will affect your capacity to do positive things
for the citizens. In my own thinking, you have to leave them alone
and go for those who carried out the act of looting.
“There is a radical change in the government right now, but
talking about the arrest of former presidents, I don’t think we are
ripe for it.
“There will be too many sentiments; people will threaten to
carry arms to defend their ‘son’. Nigeria is not an easy
country.
“One must step as if one is on eggshell; do what you can do now,
and suspend what you can’t do now because of our immature culture.
Maybe this will change in the future.
Professor Itse Sagay, says he earns N200,000 per month as the
Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption
while the four other members of the committee earn N160,000 per
month.
Sagay, who has been at the vanguard of condemnation of
outrageous allowances being earned by lawmakers revealed this while
responding to a challenge to also revealed his own earning in the
spirit of transparency by the Punch newspaper.
The Law Professor however insisted that Nigerian lawmakers are
earning far above the N13.5m monthly running cost recently
confirmed by Senator Shehu Sani.
“The information I am getting informally is that the NASS
leaders are earning between N800m and N1bn as running cost every
year. I don’t have concrete information yet, but from a very
reliable source, that’s what I’m hearing. Once I have the concrete
evidence, I will release it,” Sagay said.
He also defended by President Buhari and Vice President
Osinbajo, arguing that unlike members of the National Assembly,
they are not earning any form of extravagant allowance.
“I can confirm to you that the two are earning just their basic
salaries, around N1.7m per month for the President and a little
less for the Vice President.
“Anything else that is voted for their offices doesn’t go into
their accounts. They don’t see the money.
“That’s the difference between them and the lawmakers. In the
National Assembly, these people are handling cash.
He added that Nigeria is not yet ‘matured enough’ for former
presidents like Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan who
allegedly looted the treasury to be put on trial.
“It will take a long time, when we’ve developed and become more
mature, to do that kind of thing. Right now, if you touch a former
president, the storm that it will bring will be so diversionary and
disturbing that it will affect your capacity to do positive things
for the citizens. In my own thinking, you have to leave them alone
and go for those who carried out the act of looting.
“There is a radical change in the government right now, but
talking about the arrest of former presidents, I don’t think we are
ripe for it.
“There will be too many sentiments; people will threaten to
carry arms to defend their ‘son’. Nigeria is not an easy
country.
“One must step as if one is on eggshell; do what you can do now,
and suspend what you can’t do now because of our immature culture.
Maybe this will change in the future.