The Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has explained the rationale behind its recommendation for an upward review of the salaries of political office holders in the country.
Recall that a federal commissioner of RMAFC, Mrs. Rakiya Tanko-Ayuba, revealed in Kebbi State on Tuesday, June 20 that the commission had recommended a 114 per cent increase in the salaries of elected politicians, including the president, vice president, governors, lawmakers as well as judicial and public office holders.
The commissioner, who represented the chairman of the commission, Mr. Mohammed Shehu, said during the presentation of the report of the reviewed remuneration package to the governor of Kebbi State, Dr. Nasir Idris, that the implementation of the reviewed packages became effective from January 1, 2023, adding that the move was in accordance with the provision of paragraph 32(d) of part 1 of the Third Schedule of the 1999 constitution of the federal government (as amended).
He said last remuneration review was conducted in 2007.
“Sixteen years after the last review, it is imperative that the remuneration packages for the categories of the office holders mentioned in relevant sections of the 1999 constitution (as amended) should be reviewed.
He recalled that on Wednesday, February 1, 2023, the commission held a one-day zonal public hearing on the review of the remuneration package simultaneously in all the six geo-political zones of the country.
He explained that the aim of the exercise was to “harvest inputs/ideas from a broad spectrum of stakeholders.”
Reacting to the condemnation ignited by the recommended pay increment, a federal commissioner of the commission, Mr. Hassan Usman, said in an interview on Arise News late night yesterday that the elected officials as well as the populace are all confronted with the same economic situation.
“The consumer price index is for everybody; private and the public,” he said.
He said the commission is saddled with the responsibility of determining the appropriate remuneration for political office holders, including the president, vice president, governors, deputy governors, ministers, commissioners, special advisers, legislators and the holders of the offices as mentioned in Sections 84 and 124 of this Constitution.
However, as a result of the recommendation, he said the commission had called on the 36 states houses of assembly to hasten efforts on the amendment of relevant laws to give room for upward review of remuneration packages for political, judicial and public officers.
Usman contended that the salary of Nigeria’s president is one of the lowest in the world, comparatively, adding that the annual salary of the president was about N7 million.
He, however, clarified that the increment was only on the basic salary of public officials.
“We didn’t increase the allowances; all what we did was increase the basic salary and then of course the allowances are there the way they are, they are only commensurately percentages of the basic salary,” he said.
He further explained that the reviews are in four volumes, involving the federal government and the Federal Capital Territory on the one hand and the governors, state legislators as well as local governments on the other.
“Volume one entails the review of the federal government and the FCT , volume two for the state government and the local governments, volume three is for the judiciary from top to bottom and volume four is for the legislature, from the federal legislature to the state and even local government councils.
“The volumes are there; we have submitted them, they are just recommendations. We have submitted to the office of Mr. President and he is going to take them to the national assembly for the federal government and FCT and those for the states would be legislated upon by the state houses of assembly,” he added.
