The perks of office include the housing allowance which each of the incoming office holder is entitled to receive once a year, the furniture allowance which they are entitled to once in four years and motor vehicle loan which they are entitled to once in their tenure.
There are other allowances, both
regular and irregular ones, but housing, furniture and motor vehicle are paid
at the beginning of the tenure of the office holders to ensure that they settle
down appropriately.
Housing allowance for the political
office holders is 200 per cent of their annual salaries; furniture is 300 per
cent and motor vehicle loan is 400 per cent.
The Senate President and the Deputy
Senate President are not entitled to this allowance because their own accommodation
is to be provided by the Federal Government.
Similarly, each member of the House of
Representatives will be paid N3, 970,425 as housing allowance on assumption of
office.
This means that the 358 representatives will be collecting a total of
N1, 421,412,150 as housing allowance. Again, the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of
the House of Representatives are excluded from this allowance as the Federal
Government is to provide their own accommodation.
The principal officers of the National
Assembly also benefited from the sale of Government houses. As a result,
the Federal Capital Territory Administration is at present building new houses
for the lawmakers that will emerge as the Senate President, the Deputy Senate
President, the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker.
For furniture, each of the senators is
to get N6, 079,200. The furniture for both the Senate President and his deputy
are to be fully provided by the government. This means that 107 senators will
get a total of N650, 474,400 as furniture allowance. Furniture allowance is
paid once in four years.
Source: Punch
