The review of the 2023 Appropriation Bill passed into law on Wednesday by the Senate has shown that the lawmakers will get N30.173 billion as a severance package.
Pointblank news.com reports that the Senate passed the sum of ₦21.83 trillion as the budget for the 2023 fiscal year after President Muhammadu Buhari sent a supplementary Appropriation Bill to the lawmakers last week.
The Red Chamber passed the budget following the consideration and approval of the report of the Senate Committee on Appropriation headed by Senator Barau Jibrin.
Following the passage of the 2023 budget, members of the National Assembly will earn ₦30.173 billion as a severance package despite the President transmitting a supplementary budget.
A provision in the 2023 appropriation bill passed stated that Senate President Ahmad Lawan, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, and other lawmakers in both chambers will get the package.
While the 2023 budget was being considered in the “committee of supply” in both chambers, Lawan and Gbajabiamila said the ₦30.173 billion would also cover the inauguration of the lawmakers into the 10th assembly.
The sum of ₦10 billion was earmarked for the construction of the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) building and ₦2.5 billion was set aside for the completion of the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) headquarters located along the airport road in Abuja.
In the ₦967.48 billion statutory transfers, the Senate got ₦33.267 billion and the House of Representatives got ₦51.994 billion.
In the overview of the budget, apart from the ₦967.48 billion set aside for statutory transfers, the sum of ₦8.329 trillion was earmarked for non-debt recurrent cost, ₦5.972 trillion for capital expenditure, and ₦6.557 trillion for debt servicing.
Pointblanknews.com reports that the Ninth Assembly’s severance package is ₦7billion higher than what was approved by the Eighth assembly under former Senate President Bukola Saraki.
At the twilight of the eighth assembly, the sum of ₦23.678 billion was approved as a severance package for lawmakers at the time.