Mass hunger: House of Reps members to donate 50% of salaries for six months

Members of the House of Representatives have pledged to sacrifice 50 percent of their salaries for six months as a lifeline to assuage the mass hunger plight in the country.

They made the pledge during the plenary session on Thursday.
During the session presided over by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, the Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, amended the motion when he urged his colleagues to sacrifice 50% of their salaries.

Kalu said that government’s efforts to address the hunger was not enough to proffer a lasting solution to the country’s problems even in one year time and needed support.

He, then pleaded with his colleagues to sacrifice half of their salaries for support in the next six months.

“This government is doing its best but one year is not enough to address the challenges of this country. I want to plead with our colleagues to sacrifice 50 per cent for a period of six months.

“Our salary is N600,000 a month. I want to plead that we let go of 50 per cent of our salary for a period of six months,” Kalu said.

If the pledge if fulfilled, with each member paying N300,000 into a common purse, then the law makers would be contributing N108m monthly to the Federal Government and N648m for six months.