COVID-19: We Were Forced To Donate Our Salaries – Niger Rep

A member of the house of representatives from Niger state, Lado Suleja, says lawmakers were “forced” to donate their salaries of two months to support the fight against the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Naija News reports that the Niger rep who made this disclosure while speaking to journalists in Niger recently said most of his colleagues were not happy about the donation.

This online news platform recalls that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, had announced that the green chamber agreed to contribute their salaries for March and April to support the federal government’s efforts amid the pandemic.

“We have in the house of representatives jointly committed to contributing one hundred per cent of our salaries for the next two months to the fight against COVID-19 in Nigeria,” Gbajabiamila had said.

“Starting from March salary, the lawmakers’ donation will be transferred directly to the National Relief Fund account for the fight against COVID-19.”

Reacting, Suleja, who represents Gurara/Suleja/Tafa federal constituency of Niger, said the deductions were made without some of the lawmakers’ consent.

“Even though we were forced to donate our two months salary, we still help the poor with the little that we have and we will continue doing it till the end of this virus,” he said.

The Gurara/Suleja/Tafa lawmaker added that though the donation was for the progress of Nigeria, “most of us were not happy about it”.

Suleja likened the manner which the donations were done to how workers are “not happy about deducting their salary without their consent”.

Senators and ministers also donated parts of their salaries to fund the fight against the coronavirus.