REVEALED: How FG Paid 70 Public Servants N405m as Furniture Allowance From May to June

The federal government, through the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, paid N405,874,995 to 70 public servants in May, June and July as furniture allowances, FIJ has found.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶

All public office holders who received furniture allowances in May, June and July were directors, directors-general and permanent secretaries of federal ministries, departments and agencies.

The amount paid as furniture allowance to these public servants ranged between N5,777,595 and N6,079,200.

FIJ reports that 57 of them received N5,777,595, while 12 of them received N5,872,740 each, and one political office holder received N6,079,200, the highest amount paid as furniture allowance between May and July.

According to the remuneration package for political, public and judicial office holders (February 2007 – June 2009) document, furniture allowance is pegged at 300% of the basic monthly salary received by directors-general, auditors-general, permanent secretaries, accountants-general, executive-secretaries and other chief executives of parastatals and agencies. It is also meant to be paid once in four years according to the provisions of the quoted document.

Furniture allowance is one of several allowances the federal government pays to political, public and judicial office holders, apart from their basic salaries. Other political office holders, including ministers, lawmakers and judicial office holders, also receive furniture allowances.

While Nigerians knock ministers and lawmakers for receiving lump sums as allowances, high-ranking officials of the federal MDAs who receive almost the same amount as furniture allowances are usually overlooked.

While criticising the government for its profligate spending, Nigerians often cite these allowances as channels through which the country’s revenue is squandered.

These payments were made while many Nigerians were bearing the brunt of economic hardship.

The government’s wasteful spending has far-reaching consequences. One of the numerous harsh consequences of this wasteful spending is often the lack of crucial infrastructure.

FIJ has revealed how spending could be channelled into providing infrastructure and services to improve the quality of Nigerian lives.

For example, FIJ published an analysis in November on how the N1.5 billion that was proposed in the supplementary 2023 budget for the purchase of official vehicles for the office of the First Lady could have been used to construct 60 blocks of classrooms or used to pay the tuition fees of no fewer than 15,000 students of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN).

The table below contains the names of all 70 public servants who received furniture allowance from the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation:

Payments made between May and June 2024

Payments made in July 2024.