Senators Salary Structure in Nigeria (2024)
This article is about senators salary structure in Nigeria this 2024. The Senators in Nigeria are paid really interesting amounts of money as salaries. It will interest you to know that they are some of the highest earning legislators in the world. The salary of a Nigerian senator in a month is staggering and if put together at once, is enough to pay an average Nigerian graduate for many years. Having learnt this, you might ask, how much does a senator earn in Nigeria? Or what is the salary of a senator in Nigeria today? The details are made available as we proceed.
THE NIGERIAN SENATE OVERVIEW
The Nigerian Senate is the upper house of parliament in the country, the lower legislative chamber being the House of Representatives. Senators and Representatives are collectively known as lawmakers because their task is to make laws that govern the country.
The upper legislative chamber of parliament in Nigeria is made up of 109 senators representing the 36 states of the Federation and Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Each State comprises of three senatorial districts and each district elects one senator to represent them at the national assembly. The FCT then elects one senator to make up the complete number.
The Senate President is charge of all the affairs of the Nigerian Senate, and his primary function is to guide and regulate all proceedings in the Senate Chambers. Senators are elected to office for a period of four years until another general election but unlike other politicians such as Governors and Presidents whose tenures are fixed for a maximum of eight years only if re-elected, the tenure of Senators in Nigeria is unlimited and they continue to seek re-election after every four years for as long as they remain in the Senate.
The powers vested on the distinguished Senators as well as the Honourable Members of the House of Representatives as provided for by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria are powers to make laws for the peace, order and good governance of the Federation. These laws are then sent to the President for his approval and signature. They also have the powers to impeach and remove an incumbent President should they pass a vote of no confidence in him and his government.
The Senate checks and balances other arms of the Federal Government of Nigeria, making sure that no arm of government at any given point in time exerts too much political power in the country. Certain conditions for these checks and balances may include the requirement that the Senate may advise and must consent to some of the President’s government appointments; also the Senate must consent to all treaties with foreign governments and it tries all impeachments.
SENATORS SALARY STRUCTURE IN NIGERIA 2024: HOW MUCH NIGERIAN SENATORS ARE PAID
Apart from dream jobs in the oil and gas sector which pay really attractive salaries, one sector which can match and even surpass what is on offer in the petroleum industry is politics. It is little wonder why senators are paid huge salaries every month and why they will do everything possible to seek re-election so that they can continue to net very high monthly take home pay.
This 2023, Nigerian Senators are paid a monthly basic salary of ₦750,000 and this comes with allowances as high as ₦13.5 million every month. If you sum the figures all up, you will arrive at a staggering amount of ₦14.25 million every month. This translates to a whopping sum of ₦171 million per annum.
With the figures above, it is clear that the Nigerian legislators are among the best paid in the world. As earlier stated, even a fresh graduate with all his or her potentials put together, will take several years, his entire life even, to arrive at such staggering figures, that is, if at all he or she is employed at a decent work place. Seeing also that the minimum wage for workers in the country is set at ₦30,000, the salary of senators in Nigeria is too high, making sure that the margin between the rich and the poor widens even more and more.
YEARLY SALARIES AND ALLOWANCES OF SENATORS IN NIGERIA: THE BREAKDOWN
The ₦13.5 million amount paid to senators in Nigeria as allowances per month takes care of the cost of running their various offices. The amount takes care of things such as the following:
- Furniture Allowance
- Estacode
- Constituency Allowance
- Hardship Allowance
- Wardrobe Allowance
- Newspaper Allowance
- Recess Allowance
- House Maintenance
- Entertainment
- Personal Assistant
- Utilities
- Domestic Staff
- Motor Vehicle Allowance
- Duty Tour
- Vehicle Maintenance and Fuelling Allowance
The money is broken down to take care of all the above listed allowances and it is the duty of the senator to ensure that it is used judiciously as the senator is expected to present receipts of their expenditures to the relevant authorities backing up what they have used that amount to do.
As stated earlier, this ₦13.5 million for monthly allowance, added to the monthly basic salary of ₦750,000 gives a combined monthly total of ₦14.25 million, which when multiplied by twelve months gives a total of ₦171 million per year.
This is the breakdown of what senators in Nigeria earn both monthly and yearly and what they use the monies for. It is important to note that as at the time of writing, the figures stood at this, but they are subject to change. With this, Nigerians can easily know what their lawmakers are up to with the money they are being paid.
