Gov El’Rufai, Dogara clash, want each other to disclose what they earn

Kaduna State’s Governor Mallam Nasir el-Rufai and House of Representatives Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, on Friday challenged each other to disclose their financial earnings.

The governor said the National Assembly members should tell Nigerians what they earn, and Dogara replied that governors should also disclose the amounts they collect as security votes.

They both spoke during the closing ceremony of the National Assembly Management Retreat held in Kaduna.

El-Rufai had while speaking, accused the lawmakers, especially the Senate, of forming itself into a cog in the wheel of progress in the Muhammadu Buhari administration’s anti-graft war.

The governor therefore reasoned that for the National Assembly to ensure transparency and correct the negative image people hold against them they should declare what they earn.

“It is important that the National Assembly do something about its image. No transparency in your (NASS) budget; nobody knows your budget or how much you get paid. Publications are made about your salaries and allowances that I don’t believe are true but cannot be defended because there is no transparency about your budget, personnel cost and so on and so forth.

“I think you can do something about that to clear all the rumours and remove all the evil stories that are largely untrue,” El-Rufai said.

In his own speech, Dogara said that the governors too, El-Rufai inclusive, should as well reveal to Nigerians how much each of them receives as security votes.

Dogara who said he would not want to join issue with the Kaduna State governor further challenged the governors to tell Nigerians how they expended the funds belonging to local government councils in their states, which he accused them of keeping back to themselves under the guise of state/local government joint account.

“I will like to challenge him (el-Rufai) to champion this cause for transparency in the budgetary process from the National Assembly to other arms of government. The Judiciary first.

Read also: RESIGNATION CALL: Worried about backlash, Jibrin begs Buhari

“We want to see clearly how chief executives of states… how they are paid. What do they spend monthly as security votes. And if they can publish what happens to local government funds under their jurisdictions, that will help our discussion going forward,” he said.

Yakubu explained that the legislature had already started transparency in its activities by the decision to make this year’s budget open.

While he said that the National Assembly had its own peculiar challenges, he described it as the most “misunderstood” of the three tiers of government.

Earlier, Senate Majority Leader Ahmed Lawan, who represented the Senate President Dr. Bukola Saraki at the event, argued that the belief in some quarters that the Senate is opposing the anti-graft war was not true.

According to him, the Senate totally supports the fight against corruption.

 

 

RipplesNigeria ….without borders, without fears

Click here to download the Ripples Nigeria App for latest updates

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now