We didn’t receive N100 million palliative – House of Reps

The Federal House of Representatives has dismissed reports that its members received N100 million as palliatives from the Federal government.

In a statement by spokesperson of the House, Akin Rotimi said the lawmakers said they were compelled to respond following the media reports credited to the National Assistant General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Christopher Onyeka, who claimed that the executive arm had given N100 million to National Assembly members as palliatives.

The legislators described the claim as baseless and devoid of any factual accuracy, stressing that the House did not receive any money from the Nigerian government.

The statement read; “Transparency and truth in public discourse are necessary for a functioning democracy. While we doubt that Mr Onyeka was actually conveying the official position of the NLC on this claim, it is nonetheless important to correct such misinformation.

“We state categorically that Mr Onyeka lied in his claim that National Assembly members were given N100 million as palliatives. For the avoidance of doubt, at no time did members of the House of Representatives receive any money from the executive arm as palliatives. We, therefore, consider this statement malicious, irresponsible, and in bad faith.

“We consider it irresponsible and most unfortunate that Mr Onyeka would misrepresent facts in a bid to lend credence to otherwise valid demands of the NLC while seeking to denigrate the National Assembly and inciting the public against the institution.”

Rotimi further said that NLC, as a critical stakeholder in the development of Nigeria, has a voice and it risks delegitimising that voice if it is found to include fables in its legitimate agitations.

The House subsequently demanded an immediate retraction of this statement and a public apology from NLC.