Late fiery lawyer: Chief Gani Fawehinmi
By EMMANUEL UDOM
A legislator in Nigeria receives $189,000 as salary every year, Gani Fawehinmi memorial organization told journalists in Lagos on Tuesday.
Comrade Ayodele Akele, chair of GAFAMORG, dropped this horrible hint during a world press conference to kick-start activities in memory of the late fiery lawyer and human rights activist, Chief Gani Fawehinmi.
Speaking on the line-up of events, Akele lamented that while an average Nigerian is living below a dollar a day, legislators in our country earn higher salaries and allowances than their counterparts in wealthier countries.
According to him, a recent analysis, published by the respected Economist magazine on Nigerian legislators showed that the $189,000, which is equivalent to N30million earned by each legislator in Nigeria, is 116 times more than the gross domestic product of our country.
He further disclosed that some months ago, Daily Trust newspaper wrote a letter under the FOIA, requesting for the budget of the national assembly for 2013.
The assembly, according to Akele simply ignored the request, which prompted the paper to do an investigative piece that eventually showed that in 2003, a whopping sum of N150 billion was budgeted by the Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Allocation Commission for the national assembly.
Akele however called on the federal government to re-name the headquarters of the National Human Rights Commission after Chief Gani Fawehinmi as well as the establishment of the Gani fawehinmi Freedom Square in Abuja.
This humble gesture is to ensure that the memory of the late fiery lawyer, who lived and died, fighting the cause of ordinary Nigerians, is remembered.
www.allvoices.com reporter learnt that the on Saturday, August 31 a public rally will hold, while a public lecture on the life and times of Gani Fawehinmi is expected to hold at Lagos Airport Hotel on September 5, even as a night of tributes will hold that same evening at Jabita Hotel in Ikeja, Lagos.
Dr Joe Odumaki, president, Women Arise, Prof Maurice Fangnon of Ecole Ayalegou International School, Victoria Island, Lagos, Comrade (Rev) Folorunsho Oginni, Comrade Tunde Agunbiade and Comrade Michael Yusuf, were some of the activists and dignitaries that grace the conference.
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