The House of Representatives, at a plenary session on Thursday, vowed to give up 50 percent of their salaries for six months to address hunger across the country.
Speaker Tajudeen Abbas presided over the session, during which Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu amended the motion, urging his colleagues to sacrifice 50% of their salaries. When it was his turn to speak, he made this plea, seeking their support for this gesture.
“This government is doing its best, but one year is not enough to address the challenges facing this country. I want to plead with our colleagues to sacrifice 50 percent for a period of six months.
“Our salary is N600,000 a month. I want to plead that we let go of 50 percent of our salary for a period of six months,” Kalu said.
With each member paying N300,000 into a common purse, the legislative chamber will be contributing N108 million monthly to the Federal Government and N648 million for six months.
Ibrahim Isiaka from Ogun State moved a motion that Kalu amended, urging supporters of the planned nationwide protests to abandon the idea and engage the government in dialogue.
The lawmakers, while making this resolution, also begged Nigerians to exercise more patience with Tinubu’s administration in addressing challenges and hardships faced by citizens.
The motion was adopted and referred to the committees on Humanitarian Affairs, Finance and Budget for compliance.
