Saraki donates severance allowance to Leah Sharibu’s family, others

President of the Eighth Senate, Bukola Saraki, has asked the National Assembly management to distribute his severance allowance to the families of three victims of the insurgency in the North-East geopolitical zone being perpetrated by Boko Haram.

He also said children of late senators in need of financial assistance should also benefit from the largesse.

Saraki is entitled to N7.452m as contained on the website of the Revenue Allocation and Fiscal Commission.

Investigations by our correspondent revealed that the management of the National Assembly and the National Assembly Service Commission would also arrange another special package for him as Chairman of the federal parliament.

The amount could not be established as of the time of filing this report because the Director of Information, Rawlings Agada, did not respond to calls made to his phone and he had yet to reply the text message sent to him.

Saraki, in a statement by his Special Adviser (Media and Publicity), Yusuph Olaniyonu, specifically asked Mohammed Sani-Omolori-led management of the federal parliament to ensure that it supports the families of Leah Sharibu with part of the money.

She said Leah who is being held by Boko Haram after she and other girls were abducted from Dapchi town in Yobe State, and two humanitarian workers abducted and subsequently murdered by the insurgents, Hussaini Ahmed Khoisan and Hauwa Liman.

Also to benefit from the money are children of late members of the eighth Senate who may require financial assistance in furtherance of their education as a trust fund is to be established by the management of the National Assembly for the purpose.

He stated that his decision to use the severance package to support the selected victims of the insurgency was based on the fact that their cases represented some of the most touching humanitarian issues debated at the plenary during the four years of the Eighth Senate.

According to him, 20 per cent of the severance allowance should be donated to the family of Leah Sharibu, while 20 per cent should be paid to the family of Hauwa Liman, the aid worker brutally murdered by Boko Haram after she was captured.

Saraki said another 20 per cent should be donated to the family of the second aid worker, Hussaini Ahmed Khoisan, also murdered in the same circumstance by Boko Haram.

The remaining 40 per cent, according to the statement, should be used by the National Assembly management to set up a trust fund that will assist children of deceased members of the eighth Senate who are in financial need for their education.

The statement read, “It is my hope that this trust fund should grow with more contributions from my dear colleagues, present, past and future, who may be moved to put in additional money into it.

“The Clerk of the National Assembly will immediately get an official letter from me mandating him to act as stated above on the disbursement of my severance allowance.”