Lawmakers don’t collect sitting allowance, says Senate spokesman

The Spokesperson for the Senate , Dr Ajibola Basiru , on Tuesday , denied speculations that Senators and Members of the House of Representatives may be unable to sit for the mandatory minimum 180 days , due to a cash crunch in the National Assembly .
He explained that the speculation was off the mark because legislators were not being paid sitting allowance to attend plenary .
Basiru said this while speaking to reporters in Abuja . He was responding to a story published by a national daily ( not The PUNCH ) , that the legislature has resorted to holding plenary once a week due to financial constraints .
He assured Nigerians that the National Assembly would meet the constitutional 180 sitting days this year just as it achieved it last year despite the COVID -19 pandemic.
Basiru said , “ We are in the 9 th of March and we have a 12 -month calendar . There is nothing that says we won ’ t sit for 180 days .
“ It is therefore irresponsible for anybody to insinuate that we would not sit for 180 days .
“ Those who are saying we won ’ t achieve the mandatory 180 days sitting are just creating unnecessary tension where there is none.
“ Nobody can predict that we won ’ t sit for 180 days , it is too early in the year to determine that . Despite last year ’s lockdown , we achieved our mandatory 180 days ’ sitting .
“ There was no circular that we have reduced sitting to once in a week . We have been having sitting three times a week since the beginning of this year at the Senate .
“ We have also had sitting twice a week . There is a second wave of covid – 19 pandemic. We are very brisk in our business these days . When it was necessary , we had had occasions to sit on a Monday this year .
“ The issue of cash crunch hitting the National Assembly is the figment of the imagination of the writers . Sitting at plenary does not require money . It just requires printing of order papers . We are not collecting sitting allowances .
“ There are no pecuniary financial requirements for us to sit . I don’ t see how finance can hinder our sitting. We are not collecting sitting allowance; we only collect salaries at the end of the month.
“ We are in March and all our February salaries have been paid . The only thing we need during plenaries are printing of reports and the Committee on Business and Rules which is being adequately funded by the management is handling that.
“ We are merely observing COVID -19 health and safety protocols and we won ’ t do anything that would be hazardous to the health of our members . We have never amended our rules to sit once per week .”
“ It is totally wrong to say that the National Assembly is relying on the ministries , departments and agencies to fund its committee works.
“ The National Assembly does not rely on the MDAs to fund our activities . We have budget for our committees and oversight .”