Ministers under President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet will gulp a whooping N1.37 billion in four years.
The amount is the total of a N343.25 million annual housing allowances for the already confirmed 45 ministers, according to The Punch.
The allowances were based on data collated from a document obtained from the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission’s website.
The sum covers allowances for accommodation (200 per cent of basic salary), domestic staff (75 per cent of basic salary), utilities (30 per cent of basic salary), and furniture (300 per cent of basic salary).
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Unlike other allowances paid monthly, furniture allowance is usually paid once in four years.
Daily Report Nigeria recalls that President Tinubu recently unveiled portfolios of his ministers, including 13 Ministers of State and additional ministries created.
Tinubu set the record for the highest number of ministerial nominees in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic (1999 to date) with 48, a move experts have predicted to cause a further increase in the cost of governance.
The President’s nominees topped the 42 appointed by his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, in 2019 by five more persons.
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The document showed that each minister is entitled to an accommodation allowance of N4.05m, domestic staff allowance of N1.52m, and utilities allowance of N0.61, alongside furniture allowance of N6.08m, which is paid once in four years.
On the other hand, each minister of state is entitled to an accommodation allowance of N3.92m, domestic staff allowance of N1.47m, and utilities allowance of N0.59, alongside furniture allowance of N5.87m, which is paid once in four years.
An analysis of the figures showed that each minister is expected to get annually a total of N7.7m while each minister of state is expected to get a total of N7.45m annually.
In four years, each minister gets N30.8m while each minister of state gets N29.8m.
In total, the 32 ministers will cost the country about N985.6m while the 13 ministers of state will gulp about N387.4m in four years.
This further means that the 45 ministers would cost the country a total of N1.37bn in four years.
The figure is expected to increase after the approval of the three pending ministerial nominees, amid calls for a reduction in the cost of governance.
