Atiku Abubakar, who used to be the Vice President of Nigeria, praised the members of the House of Representatives. They decided to cut their pay by half for six months. They are doing this to show they care and understand the problems of the Nigerian people who are facing hard economic times and not enough food.
Atiku says this pay cut is just a small help in Nigeria’s big money problems.
In a message on his X account, Atiku said the real problem is about the extra money lawmakers and government officials get, not just their salaries.
Atiku is worried about something called the Oronsaye Report. This report talks about the high cost of running the government. He mentioned that the number of government areas (MDAs) is growing, which costs a lot of money.
He thinks the government spends too much on unnecessary things. According to Atiku, Nigeria should cut all expenses because the country should not keep borrowing money to cover these costs.
‘’The effort by the House of Representatives is good but very small. The big expenses are in the extra allowances, not the salaries. What happened to the Oronsaye Report? We are seeing too many government areas popping up, which costs a lot. We waste too much money on unimportant things. We need to cut costs everywhere because we can’t keep borrowing money to fund this irresponsible spending.”
The Oronsaye Report
The Oronsaye Report talks about how expensive it is to run the Nigerian government. This puts a lot of pressure on the country’s budget. If the government fixes these problems, it can use its money better and cut useless spending.
What you should know
Today, the House of Representatives decided to cut their salaries by 50% for six months to help during Nigeria’s tough economy and food problems.
- Speaker Tajudeen Abbas led the session where they made this decision. Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu suggested cutting their monthly salary of N600,000 in half.
- Rep. Isiaka Ayokunle wanted to talk about protests and support the government’s efforts to lower food prices and ease financial troubles for Nigerians.
- Deputy Speaker Kalu said it’s important for everyone to work together and make sacrifices during hard times. This decision aims to help the government’s plans to improve food security.
- The United States has spent nearly $200 million in the last five years to help Nigeria with food security, including $150 million given to thirty-three Nigerian companies and $22 million to Nigeria’s cocoa industry.
- The United Nations is also gathering $306 million to fight food shortages in North-East Nigeria to help millions of people from June to October.
Backstory
- Some Nigerians are planning to protest across the nation about the tough economic situation starting from August 1 to 10, 2024, using social media to organize.
- The protest is getting attention in the North and other areas. It aims to make the government notice the problems of the people.
- Since President Bola Tinubu ended the fuel subsidy in May 2023, life has been very hard for many Nigerians.
- People are asking the government to change some decisions that they believe are causing these problems.
- Some organizers of the protest, especially from the North, do not want to be named. But Omoyele Sowore, who ran for president in 2023, is openly supporting the August protest on his social media.