By Joshua Tosin Ogunsakin 
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, said on Thursday that members of the House have contributed approximately N704.9 million from their salaries over the past five months to support vulnerable Nigerians.
He said the initiative followed a resolution during plenary for lawmakers to donate half of their salaries as a response to the hardships caused by the removal of fuel subsidies and rising poverty levels in the country.
Speaking at the resumption of plenary, Speaker Abbas revealed that the funds collected would be handed over to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to assist Nigerians in need.
He said: “If you recall, about five months ago, we decided to contribute half of our salaries to address the critical needs of the Nigerian people. I am happy to inform you that so far, we have contributed N704, 907,578.82.
“On the 31st of December, I will lead a delegation of leadership to handover the money to the President for the exclusive use of the vulnerable Nigerians who really needs it.
“The contributions you made highlights the steadfastness and dedication of members to addressing the critical needs of Nigeria.”
Following a motion by Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, the House, in July resolved to donate half of their salaries to meet the hunger need of Nigerians as part of efforts to stop the end bad governance protest.
While moving the motion, Kalu said: “This government is doing its best but one year is not enough to address the challenges of this country. I want to plead with our colleagues to sacrifice 50 per cent for a period of six months.
“Our salary is N600,000 a month. I want to plead that we let go of 50 per cent of our salary for a period of six months.”