The post has received over 28,600 likes and shows a man wearing the Nigerian Agbada dress in a setting resembling the Nigeria House of Representatives as he discloses his monthly income as a member.
“I, a member of this house, receive a basic salary of 2.5 (million) naira per month. Furniture allowance, 7.5 million naira; newspaper allowance, 1.2 million naira per month; wardrobe allowance, 621,000 naira per month; break allowance, 248,000 naira per month; accommodation allowance, 4.9 million naira per month; utility allowance, 828,000 naira per month; personal assistance allowance, 621,000 naira per month,” the man said.
These amounts are equivalent to 18.4 million naira, which is approximately $12,000 at the current US dollar exchange rate.
“This is what lawmakers in Nigeria earn as a salary,” the video reads at the top.
While many users seemed to believe the claim, others pointed out that elements could be missing. “The most important aspect of this video was cut off from the beginning,” reads one dissenting message.
Several other accounts on X (here and here) and TikTok (here) shared the same claim.
However, the video does not show a Nigerian politician revealing his monthly income.
Economic problems in Nigeria
Africa’s most populous country is facing its worst cost of living crisis in a generation, with double-digit inflation leaving many Nigerians struggling to afford food.
Earlier in June, Nigerian unions declared an indefinite strike, which was suspended almost 48 hours later, over calls for a new minimum wage and a reduction in electricity tariffs (archived here).
The Bola Tinubu-led federal government has refused to raise the minimum monthly wage above 60,000 naira ($45). Currently, workers receive a minimum wage of about $20 a month, while unions are negotiating an increase to 494,000 naira.
Since taking office a year ago, Tinubu has ended fuel subsidies and currency controls, leading to a tripling of petrol prices and a rise in the cost of living as the naira fell against the US dollar.
According to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, released on June 15, 2024, the National Bureau of Statistics reported that inflation in the country rose to 33.95 percent in May, as prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages continued to rise (archived here).
Edited video
Using the InVID WeVerify tool, we extracted keyframes from the clip and performed reverse image searches.
The result was the original video posted on YouTube on June 17, 2024. The video features Leke Abejide, a legislator representing Yagba Federal Constituency in the north-central Kogi State of Nigeria (archived here).
In the 12’45” long video, Leke begins his speech by drawing the attention of his colleagues to a social media post accusing him of earning an excessively high monthly salary and allowances.
In the first 12 seconds he says: “A certain Adeola Fayehun, who claimed on social media and Instagram that…”
This opening remark was cut from the viral video, which only started at 0’13”, giving the misleading impression Leke had created by saying: “I, a member of this house, receive a basic salary of 2.5 (million) naira per month…”
The omission has lost the context of the original video.
Abejide denied the claim on Facebook, saying the video of him was manipulated (archived here).
“A video is being circulated on social media by malicious individuals. The video has been distorted to serve the interests of fake news merchants in their bid to gain engagement, views and followers on the internet,” he wrote.
Adeola Fayehun, who made the allegations against Leke, is a US-based Nigerian journalist and satirist who uses her platform to discuss political, economic and social issues affecting Africans (archived here).
Income of legislators
Nigeria has a bicameral system consisting of two independent chambers: the Senate and the House of Representatives (archived here).
Information available on the Nigerian Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) website shows that the income of legislators in the two houses varies monthly, quarterly and annually (archived here).
In addition, the packages include 20 other benefits, including fuel and car maintenance, a personal assistant, housekeeping staff, entertainment, utilities and a cloakroom.
The annual basic salary of a Senator is 2,026,400 naira (about $1,300), while that of a member of the House of Representatives is 1,985,212 naira.
The last time the pay package for politicians was updated was in 2007. However, there have been controversies and public debates over what the RMAFC recommends and what lawmakers actually earn (archived here).
