Dogara urges lawmakers: It's time to reveal NASS's financial information

Yakubu Dogara, a former speaker of the House of Representatives, stated on Wednesday, July 3, that the National Assembly has to publicly reveal its financial records in order to refute rumors that lawmakers were receiving enormous monthly salaries.

Speaking at the House of Representatives' inaugural legislative open week, Dogara informed the public that, although he received N25 million in allowances as presiding officer, his monthly pay as Speaker of the House was less than N400,000.

Dogara stated that although National Assembly members' allowances are insufficient to cover them for more than three months, their pay has been a priority for some time days.
Nonetheless, he stated that Nigeria must permit its representatives to serve and restrict the financial demands imposed on them due to the misconception that they receive enormous salaries and benefits. He further stated that this misconception has damaged the National Assembly's reputation, leading to accusations of theft even in public forums.


"I didn't make more than N400,000 as Speaker. I'm not sure if it has been raised since. I instructed my accountant to form a separate account specifically for the impress, and I never once withdrew any funds from it. My entire impress was 25 million naira. Every item that was included in that account was utilized to provide for the requirements of the components.

"after my accountant protested about the amount of demand on the account, I urged him to borrow money and return it to the original source after it was finished.

"I'm stating this to encourage Nigerians to allow their legislatures some leeway and to see that the myths surrounding members' salaries are untrue.

It is common knowledge that democracy is costly. If we believe that democracy is too costly, perhaps we ought to ask our political scientists to create a more affordable local model for us.

Dogara stressed that the breakdown of reasoned discourse is the reason why the parliamentarians should not allow anyone to intimidate them into giving up the current democracy Nigeria's democracy is having problems.

Dogara stated, "I think that engagement should start from the bottom to the top," in response to their request that they interact with their citizens more. Speaking with them instead of just talking at them is how we should interact with the public more. They will participate in the governance and policy-making processes by doing this.