Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, in a lecture he delivered yesterday at the investiture of Mr. Dele Ojogbede as President of Rotary Club, Ikoyi in Lagos, said, it is illegal for former governors, who have been placed on life pension in their states, to also earn salaries in the National Assembly. He also said that lawmakers should not be paid their full salaries and allowances if they don’t sit for the mandatory 181 days before going on a seven-month recess.
Falana counselled the Federal Government on what to do with those undermining the anti-corruption war.
In regards to former governors in the Senate, Falana said:
“It is high time the Federal Government stopped the payment of salaries and allowances to former governors who are in the senate. Since they are on pension for life, it is illegal to continue to pay them salaries and allowances at the same time.”
He added that none of the 469 lawmakers in the National Assembly had justification for the entitlements they collected in the first legislative year under the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
He said:
“The APC-led National Assembly has also engaged in collecting jumbo emoluments for services not rendered to the nation. “Whereas Section 63 of the Constitution provides that the Senate and the House of Representatives shall each sit for not less than 181 days in a year, Section 68 thereof states that any legislator who fails to attend the proceedings of the Senate for less than one third of the required number of days shall automatically lose his or her seat.
“For the first legislative year which ended on June 9, the Seventh session of the National Assembly did not meet the constitutional requirement. Specifically, due to incessant recesses, the House of Representatives sat for only 104 days while the …Read More
Source:: Linda Ikeji Blog
