As Nigerians continue to groan over the hardship staring them in their faces, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, has empathize with them, saying members of the National Assembly were willing to make sacrifices by slashing their salaries if it becomes necessary.
Kalu, who said members of parliament were feeling the pulse of the nation, insisted that members of the nation’s legislative house were willing to make adjustments in their salaries as necessary sacrifice to helping their constituents cope with the current economic realities in the country.
He spoke on Channels TV programme, Politics Today, while responding to critical questions on the adoption of Steven Orosanye report by the federal government to merge some agencies with the aim of cutting cost of running the government.
He recalled that the parliament made similar sacrifices in 2020 to help cushion the effects of economic hardship imposed on the people by COVID-19.
Kalu said that although the salaries and allowance that the members of the parliament are receiving cannot actually take them home to do their jobs in their various constituencies, they are however always ready to put the nation and their constituents first in their consideration.
He said that the leadership of the national assembly is a selfless one and is willing to make necessary sacrifices for the good of the country.
He said: “I can assure you like we call it the people’s parliament, the pulse of the nation determines what we do. If we found out that people were suffering and we needed to make sacrifices, we will able to identify with the people. I can assure you as well that we are not hoping that this crisis we are going through will linger for a very long time. When you have sound government policies, it doesn’t end with policy pronouncements. We need to give timeline for the maturation of that policy.
“At the moment, the salary of National Assembly members is not as much as people think. Salary is different from allowance which is meant to do the jobs the constituents have sent us to do. Nobody is allowed to touch allowances, it is your salary that belongs to you. Allowances have what they are meant for. If you use it wrongly, you will be sanctioned for that.
“However, I can assure you of the selflessness of those leading the National Assembly. They are willing to adjust if needs be. If that’s what will help Nigerians move to the next level. We didn’t elect ourselves to be here, we were voted by our constituents. I assure you that when we feel their pulse and we see that through critical analysis that’s unbiased that it is what will plug the gaps, we will do that”.