Hardship allowance: Buhari, Osinbajo, govs get N651m [Report]

The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (ret.), Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, state governors, and their deputies may have received nearly N651.2 million in hardship allowance over the previous eight years of the Buhari administration, according to research by The PUNCH, while ordinary Nigerians continue to suffer.

Judges in the nation also receive this type of allowance, which is equal to 50% of their yearly basic salary.

The Punch report however focuses on that of the executive including the president, vice president, state governors, and their deputies according to information retrieved from document from the website of the Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Allocation Commission.

According to the RMAFC document, the president is entitled to a hardship allowance of N1.76 million per year. As a result, Buhari would have received N14,08m in hardship allowance over the course of eight years.

Osinbajo would have received N12.16 million as a hardship allowance over the course of eight years as the vice president is entitled to N1.52 million annually.

A deputy state governor is entitled to N1.06 million annually compared to a state governor’s N1.11 million.

In eight years, the hardship allowance of the 36 state governors would have gulped N319.68m while that of their deputies would have gulped N305.28m.

Labor unions recently rated Buhari’s administration and state governors poorly, claiming they impoverished employees and caused misery for Nigerians as he spends his final days in office.

They bemoaned the nation’s skyrocketing inflation, which they claimed had undermined the recent wage increase of 40% that the Federal Government had granted with effect from January.