Outrageous : A Nigerian Senator Earns More than Barack Obama of USA and David Cameron of UK

A Nigerian senator earns more in Salary than Barack Obama of the US and David Cameron of the UK. I'll leave you to tell how much Nigerian president goes home with at the end of each month. An Indian lawmaker must work for at least 49 years to earn the annual salary of a Nigerian senator.

In the United States, while the minimum wage is $1,257 (N191, 667), a US lawmaker earns $15,080 (N2.3m) per month. In the United Kingdom, a lawmaker earns $8,686(N1.3m) monthly while the gross national minimum wage is $1,883 (N283, 333) per month. Also, Nigerian lawmakers earn higher than their counterparts in Sweden. With a monthly pay of $7,707 (N1.2m), a lawmaker in Sweden will need to work for over 12 years to equal what a Nigerian senator earn per annum.


The president of the United States takes home an anual salary of $400,000 (N64.156,0m), including a $50,000 expense allowance making the president the highest paid public servant in the US. The $400,000 includes everything and $350,000 out of it is taxable.


Selected States (salary per annum)
The prime minister of the United Kingdom......USD 226,627.00 
French president......................................... USD 318,072.00 
South African president................................USD 296,112.00 
German chancelor........................................USD 296,112.00 
The Prime Minister of Belgium.......................USD 174,804.00 
President of the Republic of Korea.................USD 136,669.00 
President of Russia.......................................USD 122,652.00 
Prime Minister Portugal.................................USD 129,730.00 
Prime Minister Namibia.................................USD 115,155.00 
President of Angola......................................USD 60,000.00 
President Argentina......................................USD 55,139.00 
Prime Minister Ukraine..................................USD 61,254.00 
President Zimbabwe.....................................USD 18,000.00 
President of People's republic of China...........USD 10,633.00 
President Liberia..........................................USD 90,000.00 
Prime Minister Spain ...................................USD 102,960.00 
Prime Minister Namibia................................USD 115,155.00 
President Namibia.......................................USD 164,506.00 
President of Colombia ................................USD 120,685.00 
Prime Minister of the Netherlands.................USD 190,740.00 
Prime Minister Ireland.................................USD 264,000.00 
Prime Minister Denmark..............................USD 264,533.00 
President Mexico........................................USD 328,839.00 
USD 328,839.00 ........................................USD 427,886.00 
President Austria........................................USD 422,231.00 
President of the European Council................USD 508,916.00 


NIGERIAN SENATORS
Basic Salary (BS) = N2,484,245.50


Hardship Allowanc: 50% of Basic Salary = N1,242,122.75


Constituency allowance: 200% of BS  =  N4,968,509.00


Furniture Allowance: 300% of BS = N7,452,736.50


Newspaper allowance: 50% = N1,242,122.70 


Wardrobe allowance: 25%   = N621,061.37


Recess Allowance: 10%       = N248,424.55


Accommodation: 200%        = N4,968,509.00


Utilities: 30%                      = N828,081.83


Domestic Staff: 35%           = N863,184.12


Entertainment: 30%            = N828,081.83


Personal Assistance: 25%   = N621,061.37


Vehicle Maintenance Allowance: 75%  = N1,863,184.12


Leave Allowance : 10% = N248,424.55


One off payments (Severance gratuity): 300%  = N7,452,736.50 


Motor Vehicle Allowance: 400% of BS = N9,936,982.00 


Total per month = N29, 479, 749.00    


A senator's anual salary          = over N182 million 
multiply by 109 senators (don't forget the House of rep, ministers, ambassadors,  ...)


In addition to the regular and legitimate salaries and allowances of over N17 million ($113,333) and N14.99 million ($99,933) which senators and reps were collecting yearly and the irregular allowance of estacodes, duty tours etc, they were also collecting over N192m ($1.28m) and N140m ($0.93m) respectively in illicit quarterly allocation which is not provided for by RMAFC.


Effectively, a Nigerian senator was taking home at least $1.40m ($1.28m quarterly allocations + $0.113m regular salaries and allowances) as against the $0.174m an American senator takes home hence a Nigeria senator earns at least 8 times as much as an American senator and more than 3 times the American president.


Whereas a Senator in the U.S earns N21, 146,000, the same as a member of the House of Representatives; a UK Member of Parliament earn £64,766 (N14, 896,180)


In other words, a Federal Legislator in Nigeria is paid more than double what a Member of British Parliament earns per annum.


Senate President David Mark alone takes N250 million quarterly or N83.33 million per month. Senate Deputy President Ike Ekweremadu gets N150 million per quarter or N50 million a month.


Mark and Ekweremadu earns in 4 months, six times what the UK Prime Minister earns in a year. David Cameron goes home with £190,000 per anum (N43, 700,000)


In a newspaper news article entitled ‘An Assembly for looting’ written by Musikilu Mojeed with Elor Nkereuwem, the authors rightly claimed that each of the 360 members of the House of Representatives were getting N35 million in cash money in quarterly allocation while each of the 109 Senators pockets N48 million each. These allocations have however been slashed by 20% to N27 million ($180,000) and N38 million ($253,333) respectively due to the 20% reduction requested by the late president.

FCDA demolishes N2.5bn estate in Abuja

FCDA demolishes N2.5bn estate in Abuja




The Department of Development Control of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has demolished a 14-unit semi-detached-duplex estate in the Apo District of the capital city.


The demolished estate, worth about N2.5 billion, according to the construction engineer, contained 48 living rooms and two duplex school apartments, was said to have reached a 90 per cent completion.


The Project Manager of the estate, Samuel James Eyesore, said: “On Thursday last week, while we were working at the site at about 2.00pm, we saw an 18-passenger Coaster Bus with development control officials, a bulldozer and an Hilux-pickup van carrying armed mobile policemen numbering about 20.


“An officer of the department led the team. I tried to as much as possible for him to give me audience but all to no avail.” He said they were not given any reason for their actions, but pointed out that before the day of the incident, they were told that the land upon which they were building was meant for a nursery and primary school.


“They said we should go back and verify the original plan on the land in the office of Regional Planning of the department and do the necessary things, which we did. We have the acknowledgement letter of the office in our possession.


“I tried to explain this to the leader of the team but he did not give me any opportunity. They told us to go and apply for 10 hectares of land initially, which was allocated to us including this place, which they now demolished and without this place, the 10 hectares will not be completed. We have buildings for nursery and primary school in this, so I don’t know what their problem is”, he argued.


One of the site engineer, who spoke to Daily Sun on condition of anonymity alleged that some officials of the development control had earlier demanded the sum of N7 million from the authorities of the estate, out of which about N5 million had been given to them.


He stressed that the alleged officials had recently threatened to let heaven loose if they failed to pay the remaining N2 million as expected but that they were pleading for more time before this development.
But responding, the Public Relations Officer of Development Control, Mrs. Juicy Mudasiru, in a telephone chat dismissed the allegations saying that it was an attempt to blackmail FCTA.


According to her, “the God’s Own Estate committed an encroachment on school plot. They were served with quit notice sometimes in 2008 but they ignored it. We have after then been served them with several quit notices but they have refused to comply. “On allegations of money collection by our officials, if they have any evidence to that effect, we will be very happy if they bring it forward so that we can use it to trace the culprits and act appropriately,” the PRO noted.

Nigerian firm wins $1.2bn housing contracts in Chad

Nigerian firm wins $1.2bn housing contracts in Chad


A Nigerian company, Exhimab Integrated Linx Limited has secured a $1.2 billion contract for the construction of 50,000 housing units to be financed by the Chadian Government. Chairman of the company, Alhaji Ahmed Tijani Umar, said the houses, which would be spread across all the provinces are in different categories of one, two, three and four bedroom flats in major towns in Chad Republic.


According to him, construction is expected to commence on July 1, 2010 with the completion date put at 2013. Umar described the project as one of Chad Republic’s many welfare plans to ensure that its citizenry enjoy benefit from its crude oil windfall as well as a fulfilment of President Idriss Derby’s pledge to Chadians.


Based on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by his company and the Chadian Government, he said he was to provide 80 per cent of the funds by receiving international guarantee from the Chadian Government while the Government of the Republic of Chad would provide the remaining 20 per cent counterpart funds including land.


Alhaji Umar commended the Chadian President, Idriss Deby for the confidence and encouragement reposed on Exhimab, particularly on the tax holiday and waiver on building materials imported to the landlocked country.


Tagged: Mass Housing for All in Chad, the Exhimab boss declared that the project would be flagged off with the Presidents of other neighbouring countries of Chad present. The MoU was signed by Alhaji Ahmed Tijani Umar on behalf of Exhimab and the Minister of Housing and Regional Development, Mr. Djimrangar Dadnadji, for the Chadian Government.


According to the MoU, the Chadian Government would provide the land, and 20 per cent financing and administrative support needed for the success of the programme.

Half Of A Yellow Sun Coming To Movie Theaters

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s award winning novel, Half Of A Yellow Sun, has been picked up to become a film with the production team behind “The Last King of Scotland”, reportsJamati. (FINALLY!)

It’s always great to see Nigerian literature being picked up by the mass media. I’m definitely looking forward to this film from the outcome to the film production’s actor picks…and hopefully you are too excited about this tidbit.

Half Of A Yellow Sun won a Orange Prize for Fiction in 2007 and the young British-Nigerian author was named by ESSENCE as a honorable African.

Half of a Yellow Sun is set in Nigeria during the 1960s, at a time of the vicious Nigeria- Biafra war in which more than a million people died and thousands were massacred in cold blood.

Three characters are swept up in the rapidly unfolding political events. Ugwu, a boy from a poor village, is employed as a houseboy for a university lecturer. Olanna, a young, middle-class woman, has come to live with the professor, abandoning her privileged life in Lagos for a dusty university town and the charismatic idealism of her new lover. Richard is a tall, shy Englishman, in thrall to Olanna’s twin sister Kainene, who refuses to belong to anyone.

They are propelled into events that will pull them apart and bring them together in the most unexpected ways. As Nigerian troops advance and they run for their lives, their ideals – and their loyalties to each other – are severely tested. This novel is about Africa, about moral responsibility, the end of colonialism, ethnic allegiances, class and race, and about how love can complicate all these things.

[quote via ORANGE PRIZE.CO.UK]

Quick Facts on Chimamanda:

She was born in Enugu State, Nigeria to Igbo parents but she’s from Anambra State, Nigeria.

She’s been called the female literary answer to Chinua Achede.

BBC News called Chimamanda the new face of African literature.

Her birthday is coming up – September 15th!

Her debut novel is called, Purple Hibiscus which won Best First Book award in the 2005 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize.

Her third novel, The Thing Around Your Neck, was released in April 2009.