The House of Representatives, on Wednesday, announced the downward review by 63 per cent of its running costs, saying that the action was in line with public outcry on the jumbo pay of legislators.

Addressing newsmen at the National Assembly, the chairman, House Ad-hoc Committee on Media and Publicity, Honourable Opeyemi Bamidele, however, said the downward review would not affect the salaries and allowances of the lawmakers.

According to him, “Nigerians have been concerned about what was being spent on salaries and allowances of members of the House of Representatives.

“This has also been the concern of the House leadership and the seventh session of the National Assembly, on behalf of Mr Speaker and the members, I wish to announce that there has been a major downward review by 63 per cent of the running cost of the House.

“The review covers the running of the offices of the House members but the salaries and allowances of the members have not been affected.”

He said further, “the salaries of members of the House of Representatives have not been reduced, salaries were fixed by the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission (RMFAC), they were not fixed by the members or National Assembly Commission and salaries of honourable members are not different from salaries that they fix for other public holders of the same salaries scale and of the same status like Judges, ministers and even governors.

“Today, I really want to clarify to Nigerians that if there is to be a review in the salaries earn by members of the House of Representatives or by senators, it is something that would be done by relevant body set up to do so which is the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission and this will not be done in isolation from the salaries of other categories of public office holders like the Judges, honourable ministers and other similarly situated public office holders.”

According to him, “in respect to our salaries and allowances, Nigerians have been concerned about what was perceived to be a huge amount of spending through salaries and allowances. Both the leadership and honourable members of the seventh House of Representatives have been as concerned as Nigerians are.”

Honourable Bamidele of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Ekiti State, said that the 258 new members of the parliament as well as the returning old members did not raise eyebrow when the matter of downward review of the House running cost was discussed at an executive session called for that purpose, a development he said, underscored the houses’ resolve to show probity in its finances.

He, however, disclosed that members were not comfortable with the claim that the cars being used for official purposes by the members should be considered as personal cars which they must pay for by themselves.

According to him, the House is uncomfortable with the idea of turning vehicles allowance for members into vehicle loans that must be paid for by the affected members as he insisted that Judges, directors in ministries, Permanent Secretaries, among other categories of public servants enjoyed the benefit of having official vehicles attached to them without having the cost of the vehicles transferred into their salary account as loans to be paid back.