The House of Representatives has announced plans to submit the sum of N704.91m to President Bola Tinubu for vulnerable Nigerians as part of their contribution to cushion the effect of the economic hardship occasioned by the removal of subsidy from petrol.
The donated half-year salary would be presented to the president on December 31.
NewsNGR reports that on July 18, the House resolved to slash 50 per cent of their salaries for six months to address the challenges faced by ordinary Nigerians, following the adoption of a motion moved during a plenary session.
Addressing his colleagues during Thursday’s plenary, the Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas said, “If you recall, about five months ago, we decided to contribute half of our salaries to address the critical needs of the Nigerian people. I am happy to inform you that so far, we have contributed N704,907,578.82.
“On December 31, I will lead a delegation of leadership to hand over the money to the president for the exclusive use of the vulnerable Nigerians who really need it.
“The contributions you made highlight the steadfastness and dedication of members to addressing the critical needs of Nigerians.”.
Following a motion by Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, the House, in July, resolved to donate half of their salaries to meet the hunger needs of Nigerians as part of efforts to stop the end of bad governance protest.
While moving the motion, Kalu said, “This government is doing its best, but one year is not enough to address the challenges of this country. I want to plead with our colleagues to sacrifice 50 per cent for a period of six months.
“Our salary is N600,000 a month. I want to plead that we let go of 50 per cent of our salary for a period of six months.”