Contrary to perception of Nigerians, members of the National Assembly are not earning jumbo salary, a lawmaker representing Egbeda/Ona Ara federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Mr. Akin Alabi, has said.
He made the statement on Wednesday stating that there was no secret in what the salaries of the legislators.
He said why most Nigerians saw what members of the National Assembly earned as jumbo was that most of the lawmakers were afraid to disclose what they earned to their constituents and other Nigerians.
“There is no secret in what members of the National Assembly earn,” said Alabi.
The lawmaker while speaking with journalists when he flagged off a N250 million empowerment scheme for women in his constituency held at Isebo area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, said the motive behind the scheme was in fulfilment of his campaign promises to the people of the consistency.
Alabi who insisted that he summoned courage to put what he earned as a lawmaker on his personal blog, said he did that in the spirit of transparency.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker said: “Yes, I put it on my blog, Akinalabi.com. Everything we earn. Everything is there and anybody can go and check it. There is no secret in what we earn as lawmakers.
“I think that the biggest problem that we are facing in this country is that people are afraid to say this thing. That is why many people think it is bigger than it is. There is no secret in what we earned as a lawmaker.”
Alabi who is the Chairman, House Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs, assured that he would not wait for the executive arm of government before he would provide solutions to
His words: “A total of two hundred and fifty people are benefiting from this empowerment scheme today. Today alone, we are kicking off the programme today. We are continuing tomorrow; we are starting today with 250 women. That is just today. The programme is a N250 million empowerment scheme.
“As much as we can, we don’t have a definite number, as much as our resources can accommodate, we are going to take care of them. It is not going to be on monetary basis, some is to assist them on their hospital bill, some are going to be trained on this scheme for free.
“I am doing it for different reasons. During the campaign, I met a lot of women during the campaign, they came out and counted their votes for me. I see this as one of the ways to assist them. I don’t want to wait for the government; that is why I am doing it now. It if basically from my own pocket.
“I have special interest in the youth, some are looking for jobs, some need training. So, we are going to do all our possible best to assist them. We are going to have different solutions to different people.
“We are doing this in order to formalise it. I believe spending N250 million on the people is not a big thing for me. The legislative arm of government has three major functions. Lawmaking, constituency outreach and oversight. This is one of them. This is part of my constituency outreach. It is still part of my job here.
“For lawmaking, for those of us who are familiar with the media, they must have seen my contributions at the floor of the house. I moved a motion in the floor of the house to resist men of Customs from arresting people on the roads after they had paid their duties. When you had paid your duties, they still stop you on the roads. That is a motion we argued extensively on the floor of the house. So, I got two motions; I am very active on the floor, I got some bills coming up. This is just for the women, we have for youths and the aged. We have for all categories of people in the constituency.”
