Suspended Reps lose N616m in six months

Member of the House of Representatives, Ms. Doris Uboh, being dragged out of Tuesday’s plenary session by the Sergeant-, at-Arms, Col. Emeka Okere (retd.), and a female security operative during a brawl in the House. On the right is a member of the House, Mr. Dino Melaye, after the incident.
The 11 suspended members of the House of Representatives have lost about N616m, findings by THE PUNCH revealed.

The figure represents the combined total of their quarterly allocation for the third and fourth quarters of the year (July to December).

Based on the allowances and entitlements fixed for lawmakers by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, each of the 360 members of the House takes home around N28m per quarter (or N9.33m per month).

There are three months in each of the four quarters on which the allocations of the lawmakers are calculated.

This translates to N308m per quarter for the 11 and N616m for the two quarters.

Although the 11 lawmakers have been on suspension for about four months (July to October) their colleagues have already collected the block sum for two quarters (July to December).

However, amid consistent denials by the House, there are speculations that the unofficial allocation for each lawmaker per quarter is N42m.

If this unofficial figure is to be used, the 11 suspended lawmakers would have lost N462m per quarter or N924m for the two quarters.

The 11, who belonged to a group in the House, the Progressive-Minded Legislators, were suspended in July after lawmakers loyal to the Speaker, Mr. Dimeji Bankole, fought with some of them on the floor of the House.

Source: http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20101103411570