From the president's inaugural speech on May 29th, 2023, where President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of subsidy on petroleum products, development in the oil and gas market where the landing cost of per litre of petrol has risen above the current pump price which has caused all the citizens hardship and have affected the economy.
Meanwhile, according to premiumtimesng.com (August 11, 2023) reported with the headline "Nigerian senators illegally share N218 million as “holidays” allowance"
The report continues stated that "A senator who requested not to be named because he was not authorised by the upper house to speak on the matter confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES that all the 109 senators were paid the allowance for the holidays, which commenced on Monday and ends on 26 September."
"A calculation done by PREMIUM TIMES showed that the senators were paid a total of N218 million, having received N2 million each to enjoy the vacation."
"The bank alerts were received by the senators on 8 August, just before the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announcing it."
"The N2 million allowance given to the senators is illegal as no such provision is made in the remuneration package approved by RMAFC, the body authorised by law to prepare salaries and allowances for public servants."
" The salary of the senate president per annum is N2,483,242, and therefore receives N248,424 as recess allowance, the deputy senate president earns N2,309,166, and his recess allowance is N230,916."
"There are speculations the N2 million each of the senators got was drawn from the N70 billion allocated to the National Assembly in the amended 2022 supplementary budget."
"President Bola Tinubu had in June proposed the allocation in the Supplementary budget “to support the working conditions of new members.”
Following the aforementioned information, one Barr. Maduabuchi O. Idam, Abuja Human Rights Lawyer wrote a letter to the Senate President on 11th August, 2023; stated: 'DEMAND FOR INFORMATION PURSUANT TO SECTION 1,2 AND 3 OF THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2011, REGARDING THE AMOUNT PAYABLE TO NIGERIAN SENATORS AS SALARIES, HOLIDAY ALLOWANCES AND SUCH OTHER BONUSE(S) requesting the details of the information, regarding the amount and source of the monies revealed by the Senate President to have been sent to serving senators for enjoyment during their holiday.
In his statement in the letter, Maduabuchi said that:
"Following the relevant provisions of the FOI, the Senate President is obligated to furnish me with the requested information within seven (7) days. Failure to so do, I shall further explore my right as guaranteed under the Act to approach the Federal High Court in order to compel the release of the information."
"My action was necessitated by the fact that, as a people, Nigerians are currently plagued by hardship and scarce resources, thereby making it unreasonable for our leaders to embark on enjoyment holiday at the tax payers’ expense" he concluded.
However, the said Human Rights has also written 'an Openletter of protest' to the president of the Federation on 17th August, 2023; the letter is hereby pasted below:
17th August 2023.
His Excellency,
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,
The Federal Republic of Nigeria,
Aso Villa,
Abuja.
Dear Sir,
An Open Letter of Protest
I, Maduabuchi O. Idam, a Nigerian Citizen and a public interest lawyer, of Ebonyi South Senatorial Zone, hereby write as follows:
With pensive regrets as a concerned Nigerian, it is my observation that the hue and cry of Your Excellency, over the ailing state of Nigeria’s economy appear to be a cosmetic lip-dance, otherwise Your Excellency would have been more frugal in your choice of whom to appoint for national assignments.
The recent withdrawal of Senator Dave Umahi from the Senate, has boldly demonstrated, yet again that Your Excellency was disinterested in cost management and prevention of security crisis, noting that common sense was expected to guide Your Excellency to appoint a different person from Mr. Umahi’s region in order to save the cost of a re-run election in that region and at the same time prevent a possible security crisis which is now the hallmark of every election in Nigeria.
Apparently, Your Excellency did not care much about Ebonyi South electorates, whose will was subverted by the withdrawal of Senator Umahi, having voted him into the Senate, to represent them as a Senator and not to serve as a Minister. Your Excellency, the withdrawal of Senator Umahi from the Senate and his subsequent appointment as Minister, amount to exchanging the will of the good people of Ebonyi South to service his selfish orgy for power.
Howbeit, I write to protest that Your Excellency should direct Mr. Umahi to pay the cost of a re-run Senatorial election into the Federation Account if he must be sworn in as a Minister.
My protest is predicated on the fact that Your Excellency is expected to be frugal in the midst of scarcity, in order to save cost of governance, for our collective good.
Kindly accept my patriotic regards.
Yours faithfully,
M.O. Idam, Esq.