MONTHLY PAY
•President ( N585, 784.10)
•Vice President; (N505,262.08)
•Senate President (N724,570.72)
•Deputy Senate President (N673,507.00)
•Senator (N1,063,860)
•Speaker (N412,851.66)
•Deputy Speaker (N381, 172.40)
• Representatives (N794, 086.83)
• Governor (N648,580.62);
• Deputy Governor (N616,062.69)
• Minister/SGF/ HOS (N650,136.65)
With a 50 per cent cut in their pay, the President and Vice-President are to earn less than the Chief Justice of Nigeria, ministers, High Court judges and others.
According to a document obtained from the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), the President and the Vice President are now ranked as 15th and 17th in Remuneration Package for Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders.
This is the first time that the President and Vice President will slump in the pay ranking.
The President has said that he will not force other office holders to cut their salaries.
The monthly pay is as follows: President ( N585, 784.10); Vice President; (N505.262.08); Senate President(N724,570.72); Deputy Senate President (N673,507.00); Senator (N1,063,860); Speaker, House of Representatives (N412,851.66); Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives (N381, 172.40) and member, House of Representatives (N794, 086.83).
The pay highlights for others are Governor(N648,580.62); Deputy Governor(N616,062.69); Minister/SGF/ HOS/ Chairmen of constitutional bodies(N650,136.65); Minister of State/Member of constitutional bodies(N628, 056.91); Special Adviser , including other categories, such as speech writers (N590, 957.81); Directors-General/ Auditor-General/ Permanent Secretary/ Accountant-General/ Executive Secretaries/ Chief Executives of Parastatals, Agencies and Government Companies/ INEC Resident Electoral Commissioners(N617, 881.68); and Chief Justice of Nigeria(N560,662.16).
Others are Supreme Court Justices/ President, Court of Appeal(N908, 273.66); Justices of Court of Appeal/ Chief Judge , Federal High Court/ Chief Judge FCT/ President, National Industrial Court/ Grand Khadi FCT Sharia Court of Appeal/ President, FCT Customary Court of Appeal/ Chief Judge of a State/ Grand Khadi/ State Sharia Court of Appeal/ President, State Customary Court of Appeal(N731, 657.66).
The list includes Judge of the Federal High Courrt/ National Industrial Court/ FCT High Court/ State High Court/ Khadi FCT Sharia Court of Appeal/ Judge FCT Customary Court of Appeal/ Khadi State Sharia Court of Appeal/ Judge State Customary Court(N661,735).
It could not be immediately ascertained from RMAFC why the monthly pay of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives is low compared to the Deputy President of the Senate and other members of the House.
A source simply said: “I think the Speaker and his Deputy enjoy many perks in office than many political office holders.
“Do not forget the fact that we are still using the 2009 Remuneration Package initiated by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua.
But RMAFC recommended eight ways to check leakages and wastes in government.
The eight points are:
•Eliminating or limiting the number of Personal Assistants
•Reducing frivolous local and foreign trips
• Checking purchase of vehicles far in excess of what is approved for official use
•Reduction of large use of motorcades by officials in excess of what is either specified in the remuneration package or compared to what is practiced in other parts of the world
•The present state of the economy calls for caution and belt tightening measures
• The 3-tiers of government to put in place adequate expenditure management and control system
•Necessary to diversify the economic base of the nation in order to generate more revenue at the Federal, State and Local Government Council levels
•Federal, State, LGA to focus more on the provision of Capital Projects/ Infrastructure rather than recurrent expenditure.
The agency said: “The commission, based on its observations concluded that apart from the reduction in allowances, there are other areas of leakages and wastages in revenue at all the tiers of government that must be addressed in order to ensure increase in revenue and its judicious management
“That there is non-compliance with the provisions of the remuneration packages such as contained in either the Report of the Commission or the Act itself. Such violations by the three tiers and arms of government include arbitrary appointment of high number of Personal Assistants which is adding more cost to the running of government at the various levels. It is difficult to determine what value they add to service delivery or to governance.
”The commission advised that all these illegal appointments by the 3-Tiers of government be stopped and officers concerned be relieved of their appointments.
“Also, all the three tiers and arms of government should eliminate or limit the number of Personal Assistants to reduce cost of governance.
“That there are too many frivolous local and foreign trips by Political Office Holders throughout the country. The commission is advising that it is necessary to reduce local and foreign trips and the size of entourage on such trips when absolutely necessary in order to save cost.
“That there is acquisition and use of assets such as motor vehicles far in excess of what is approved for official use. For example, Government Parastatals and Agencies purchasing project vehicles and eventually handing over same to their parent ministries as a way of circumventing the remuneration package.
“The commission strongly advised all tiers of government to issue circular to all government ministries, parastatals, agencies to desist from buying vehicle under the cover of PROJECT VEHICLES to their parent ministries.
“Similarly , the commission also observed the practice of buying fleet of cars in the name of Committee Vehicles. This practice negates the whole idea of monetisation, principle of modesty in governance and the spirit of remuneration packages particularly in the legislative arm throughout the country.
“Therefore under the current economic downturn of the nation, this practice has to stop and vehicles procured in this manner have to be sold and proceeds should be used to provide buses for the common citizenry.
“That there is a large use of motorcades by officials in excess of what is either specified in the remuneration package or compared to what is practiced in other parts of the world. The commission views this as a complete violation of the Remuneration Package because it has significantly increased the overhead cost of governance.”
Disturbed by the high cost of governance, Yar’Adua had mandated RMAFC to review the Remuneration Package for political, Public and Judicial Office Holders to save cost.
In the document made available to The Nation, RMAFC gave the background to the review under Yar’Adua.
RMAFC said: “The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) in pursuance of its constitutional role of determining the remuneration appropriate Political, Public, and Judicial Office Holders as enshrined in Sections 70, 84, 111 and 124, as well as Paragraph 32(d) of Part One of the Third Schedule of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria had, in the year 2007, reviewed the remuneration package for the Office Holders in the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary at the Federal, State and Local Government levels.
“The recommendations of the Commission for the Executive at the Federal level and the FCT Area Councils as well as the Judiciary (Federal and States) were passed into law by the National Assembly as “Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, etc.) (Amendment) Act, 2008”.
“The various State Assemblies also passed their respective remuneration laws based on the salaries and allowances as determined by the Commission in its Remuneration Report of February, 2007.
“The Remuneration package came into effect on 1st February, 2007. However, the Commission received a letter from Mr. President dated 10th February, 2009 on the need to review the 2008 Amendment Act, in view of the impact of the current global economic crisis and financial meltdown on the Nigerian economy particularly, the dwindling Government revenue.
”In line with its normal practice, the Commission commenced the review exercise by obtaining clarifications from appropriate authorities and holding interactive and consultative sessions with Stakeholder with a view to obtaining the inputs to guide the Commission to arrive at a fair remuneration package.
“Specifically, the Commission inter- alia held consultations with the Senate, the House of Representatives, representatives of the Conference of Speakers of State Assemblies, representatives of the media, civil societies and labour, the Judiciary, the National Economic Management team, and representatives of Chairmen of Federal Executive Bodies. The Commission would like to note the true national spirit of collective sacrifice displayed by majority of the Stakeholders during the consultations.
“In addition, the Commission obtained data on some current economic indicators and key macroeconomic variables such as inflationary rates, cost of living, exchange rate, Gross Domestic Product, crude oil production, international oil prices, accruals into the Federation Account etc., which were considered critical to the review exercise.
”Based on the provisions of paragraph 32(d) of Part 1 of the Third Schedule of the -999 Constitution and Section 148 (2) (c) of the same Constitution, it is the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission that has the power to determine, fix, review upward or downward the remuneration package of Political, Public and Judicial office holders whether elected, appointed or both including the Legislature at the Federal, State, and Local Government levels.
“ However, the Commission took into consideration the provisions of Sections 84 (3) and 124 (3) of the 1999 Constitution both of which provide that “the remuneration and salaries payable to the holders of the said offices and their conditions of service, other than allowances, shall not be altered to their disadvantage after their appointment.
“These provisions are however not applicable to the legislature at the fFederal, state and local government levels. Nevertheless, the commission in order to be fair, equitable and just to all beneficiaries of its remuneration package, decided not to review the basic salaries, but rather to confine itself to the allowances and other benefits of political, public and judicial office holders, including those in the legislature.”
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