Lawmakers from the House of Representatives have agreed to cut down their salaries by 50 percent for six months as part of their solidarity and sacrifice to help cushion the impact of the prevailing economic hardship and hunger on Nigerians.
This development followed the adoption of an amendment to a motion’s prayer moved by the Deputy Speaker of the House, Benjamin Okezie Kalu, on the need for lawmakers to sacrifice 50% of their N600,000 monthly salaries to support Nigerians in view of the hardship in the land.
Kalu’s amended prayer was to a motion by Rep Isiaka Ayokunle urging proponents of the planned nationwide protests to jettison the idea and engage the government in dialogue.
The deputy Speaker said the salary slash is to be used to support federal government’s efforts to address rising cost of food stuffs across the country with the view to ameliorating the hardship Nigerians are going through.
It was gathered that by slashing their salaries by 30%, the 360 lawmakers will be sacrificing N108 million monthly for the next six months.
The motion was adopted and referred to the committees on Humanitarian Affairs, Finance and Budget for compliance.
