The internet was yesterday awash with story of the Majority Leader of 8th House of Representative, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila who gifted his wife, Yemisi a Mercedes Benz G-Wagon worth over 100 million Naira in commemoration of her 50th birthday.
While some of the supporters of the lawmaker rejoiced with him as he exorbitantly displayed love to his wife on social media, others have raised the question on the source of Gbajabiamila’s wealth.
The brand new AMG-G63 Benz G-Wagon according to TheNewsGuru.com findings is valued at $157,100 which costs N56 million when converted to Nigerian Naira but attracts other costs like custom duty and agent fee.
See price Mercedes Benz website:
Coupled with other costs like shipping, which brings the total cost of the car to over N100m in the Nigerian market – a sum that is unbelievably high when one considers the average emoluments that accrue to a Nigerian lawmaker annually.
A cursory visit on Jiji, one of the top online marketplace in Nigeria shows a new G-Wagon 2017 model was estimated at N110m.
One Big Question- How much does a Nigerian House of Rep. member earns?
As a Federal lawmaker, Femi Gbajabiamila earns about N9.7m annually.
According to the public notice by The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC, lawmakers’ allowances include accommodation (Senator N4m, Rep N3.97m), vehicle loan (Senator N8m, Rep N7.94m), furniture (Senator N6m, Rep N5.956m) and severance gratuity (Senator N6.09m, Rep N5.956m), which are due once in four years.
[Source] Info-graphics: Naij
While accommodation allowance is paid yearly, furniture, severance and car loan are paid once in four years, the commission said.
Moreover, Gbajabiamila is serving his fourth term in the house representing Surulere Constituency and also a member of the All Progressive Congress (APC).
Accounting to the total term he has served in the Federal house, TheNewsGuru reports that his annual income, N9,740.310 when multiplied by four ( a period of 4-year-term), amounts to N38.8m. Also, adding N23,822,000 [Other allowances like furniture, severance, accommodation and car loan which are paid once in four years] to the aforesaid N38.8m brings the total sum of Gbajabiamila’s four year pay to N62,783,240.
[Source] Info-graphics: Naij
Therefore, to acquire such luxury for his wife, Gbajabiamila must have been spent more than his total pay for a four year term in office.
Recall the lawmaker is yet to complete his current term in office. More importantly, he might have denied his constituents access to some basic projects as the money in consideration (N1,985,000) is assigned to him.