Lagos, Nigeria - Former Commonwealth Secretary General Emeka Anyaoku has described the remuneration of Nigeria's 469 federal lawmakers as 'simply scandalous', while seeking a coordinated campaign to change it. The private Guardian newspaper quoted Anyaoku, a Nigerian, as saying at a lecture in Lagos Thursday that he is disappointed at local media reports that the federal lawmakers cost the nation a staggering 339 billion naira in just four years (US$1=150 Naira). In addition to their salaries, senators and members of the House of Representatives are reported to receive 45 million and 42 million naira, respectively each, per quarter.

Comparing the parliamentarians’ remuneration with those of their counterparts in other parts of the world, Anyaoku said Nigerian lawmakers were by far the highest paid in the world.

“For example, the parliamentarians’ per head cost to our national treasury are more than double the per head cost of US senators and members of House of Representatives to the US treasury,” Anyaoku said.

He urged the media and society civil organisations to initiate a massive campaign against what he called, “the totally unjustified drain on our national resources.”

Pana 08/07/2011