More than one thousand, five hundred concerned Nigerians, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), BudgIT and Enough is Enough Nigeria (EiE) have filed a lawsuit asking the Federal High Court to restrain, prevent and stop the National Assembly Service Commission from paying the incoming members of the ninth National Assembly individually and/or collectively over four-point-six-eight billion naira billion as welcome package.
The groups, in a suit filed last Friday before the Federal High Court in Lagos stated that the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has failed to do any downward review of salaries and allowances of members of the National Assembly since 2007 in spite of the economic downturn in Nigeria.
They argued that the duty of the RMAFC to review the salaries and allowances of members of the National Assembly is mandatory and the Commission cannot choose not to comply. The suit added that the failure or refusal by the Commission to comply with its own Act amounts to arbitrariness.
The groups said unless the reliefs they sought are granted, the defendants and members of the National Assembly will continue to benefit from these outrageous salaries and allowances, in breach of the law and at the expense of millions of Nigerians living in extreme poverty.
Join our twitter community :
