Over 80 per cent of Nigerian Senators survive on politics alone – Orji Uzor Kalu

More than 80 per cent of Nigerian Senators will go hungry without politics, Orji Uzor Kalu, former Governor of Abia State, and former Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate, said on Thursday, a day he also disclosed that his monthly take-home pay, a closely-guided secret amongst legislators in Nigeria, is N14million.

Kalu, who is currently representing Abia North Senatorial District at the Red Chambers in the 10th National Assembly, told his host, while appearing as a guest of Politics Today, a current affairs programme on Channels Television, that only few of his colleagues had other jobs outside politics for most part of their lives and therefore needed the financial benefits from it to pay their bills, reports WhirlwindNews.

The Senator, who is a member of the first generation governors in the current democratic dispensation in the country – 1999-2007, while explaining the reason the members of the Senate could not donate parts of their salaries as sacrifice to cushion the effect of the parlous economic situation in the country, said many of them would not survive if they did so.

Hear him: “Let me tell you, 80 per cent of our Senators are just politicians. Only 20 per cent of them are businessmen like me. So, how are they going to feed their families? That is the truth. If they sacrifice, how can they going to feed their families. That is their job. If they show such good faith, how are they going to survive?

Kalu, who acknowledged that the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, had cut down most of the monetary benefits of the lawmakers in line with the present situation in the country, however, also maintained that even if the entire emoluments were sacrificed, it would still not be enough to solve the problem of poverty presently affecting the people.

The former governor, who, however boasted how his own constituents were “rocking” despite the situation, while describing Abia North as one of the best in the country, mentioned some of the well-to-do Senators, who had been doing a lot to lift their people to include Muhammed Sani Musa, Niger East, Olamilekan Adeola, Ogun West, Mukhail Adetokunbo Abiru, representing Lagos East, Adamu Aliero, Kebbi Central, among others.

He added: “The Senate President has cut most of the things we get. And we say, yes, it’s good. Even if I give you my salary now, it won’t do anything. My constituency is having enough from me. We’re rocking in my constituency. It’s not perfect – I’m going to make it perfect, it’s not perfect, but we’re rocking in my constituency. My constituency is one of the best constituencies in Nigeria today.

“Many people are doing that. Many Senators are foregoing a lot for their constituencies. I know of Muhammed Sani Musa, I know of Olamilekan (Adeola), I know of (Mukhail Adetokunbo) Abiru, I know of (Adamu) Aliero. These are the people I discuss with. These are the people who take out of their money and give to their constituencies. But parliamentary rules are different. Nobody in the US Senate will cut his salary to give to anybody. How are they going to survive.”