Senators don’t want our pay package published due to national security – Sen Bamidele
– Federal lawmakers don’t want their salaries and allowances publicised due to national security, Senator Bamidele has said
– The senator said he had been pushing for the publication the salaries but some members had expressed reservations citing national security as their reason
– Bamidele also explained the reason behind the unpopularity of the National Assembly among Nigerians
Senator Michael Opeyemi Bamidele has explained the alleged reason why some of his colleagues are against the publication of their salaries and allowances. According to a report by Daily Trust, Bamidele who is chairman of Senate committee on judiciary, human rights and legal matters, claimed lawmakers are against making their salaries public because of national security.
There has been a lot of uproar over the welfare package of the federal lawmakers, with many Nigerians calling for its reduction.
Bamidele said he had been pushing for salaries and allowances to be made public, but some members had expressed reservations for the reason of national security. NOTVBlog gathers that the lawmaker also noted that some bills are contributing to the misunderstanding of the ninth National Assembly by Nigerians.
In the last one year, some of the private member bills sponsored by the federal lawmakers for consideration and possible passage have been generating controversy. Senator Bamidele said the bills were wrongly perceived by Nigerians regardless of the intention of the sponsors.
Meanwhile, Ahmad Lawan, the president of the Senate, has said that Nigeria has never been a rich country, contrary to the perception and belief frequently possessed by the general populace. Speaking at a book launch in Abuja, the lawmaker and president of the 9th National Assembly (NASS) posited that there is a great misconception about the wealth of the country.
He, however, admitted that with the enormous resources of the country, Nigeria should have moved beyond where it is had the resources been properly channelled.
“Nigeria was never and is not a rich country, It may be controversial but it’s true,” Lawan submitted while addressing the audience. “Yet we felt we were rich, but we weren’t. But given the resources that we had and still have, we should be somewhere far ahead than where we are today. “We shouldn’t have been with this massive infrastructure deficit, we shouldn’t have 14 million children out of school,” he said.
The Senate president also assured that the current government will do everything possible to channel the available resource towards the betterment of Nigerians. He noted that it is the responsibility of the government to provide security for the people and other infrastructure that will bring dividends of democracy closer to Nigerians.
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