Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
In a controversial move that could stir national debates in coming weeks, the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), said at the weekend that a major reason it was embarking on the review of public officials’ pay is because it is unacceptable for any public official to earn more than the president of Nigeria.
Chairman of the RMAFC, Mohammed Shehu, in justifying the planned decision, singled out government institutions like the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as agencies which have a higher severance package than President Muhammadu Buhari.
Generally, revenue generating agencies get higher entitlements than their counterparts which do not, with the belief that since they have access to a lot public funds, their remuneration should be enough to deter them from stealing public revenues.
But Shehu, who spoke on a Channels TV programme, stated that the multiplicity of salary structures in the public service in the country was being looked at, stressing that major organisations affected by the different payment structures include the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), among others.
“A lot of Nigerians are not aware that there’s disparity. Why should any chief executive of a public office earn a salary higher than that of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria? But this is what it is.
“You have the NCC, NPA and the CBN Governor. Do you know that the severance package of a CBN governor is higher than that of a sitting president?,” he queried, noting that the situation was abnormal.
Arguing that what the president gets is lesser than what the government institutions’ heads are paid, he maintained that what the review seeks to achieve is to bring on board all political or public office holders that are not captured in its previous Act.
As a Director General of a government organisation for instance, Shehu stressed that the severance package is about N5 million naira, without pension, explaining that the review was not all about increases, but striking a balance.
“There are lots of lapses there , so this is what has informed us to do this exercise now. It is not true that we are just trying to release a bonus or a jumbo package for the president, governors and legislators.
“And contrary to what a lot of people believe that legislators and senators have jumbo salaries, there is no legislator, no senator, no minister that earns over N1 million a month in Nigeria,” he added.
According to the RMAFC Chairman, the review exercise was endorsed by President Muhammadu Buhari following recent agitation for a review of salaries of judges, explaining that for instance , a judge appointed today earns the same salary as one that has spent years in service.
“This is not good for Nigeria. The president is the president and there has to be a way these things are adequately harmonised in a manner that some chief executives will not get a salary higher than that of the president or governors.
“I don’t believe that any public officers whether CBN or any other agency should have a package higher than that of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I think this is not good for the system,” he maintained.
Asked whether, it was unconstitutional for some chief executives of some agencies to earn more than the president, he stressed that it was not, but added that there has to be some kind of harmonisation in the salary structure.
Although some states are still struggling to pay N30,000 minimum wage, Shehu stated that it was not the job of the RMAFC to agitate for a living wage for workers
“We are not averse to people having a living wage in Nigeria. At the commission, it is not our responsibility, but as decent human being, I want every Nigerian that works for public or even private to have a decent wage. It is not our responsibility,” he stated.
He also revealed that Cross River gets a special funding of $500 million through a special arrangement after some Nigerians declined to go with Cameroon at the time and therefore became the responsibility of the state.
“There is stabilisation fund, which is 0.50 per cent. It is to assist any state that is in distress in terms of revenue generation internally and some things that are beyond their control, just like what we had in Cross River state after the ceding of Bakassi to Cameroon and many Nigerians decided they wanted to stay within the country.
“The President from Olusegun Obasanjo down to the current president, continued to assign $500 billion monthly out of that stabilisation fund to Cross River state so that they can assist those people and provide accommodation and it is still going on,” he said.
But the Rivers state government, a few hours later denied collecting $500 million, saying that if he intended to mention N500 million, there was nothing new about it.
According to him, the RMAFC should come out with review plan that suits economic reality and the country’s financial strength.
Also speaking, a member of the panel, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, who is the Head Transparency International (TI) Nigeria, argued that the decision should have also captured the plights of minimum wage earners.
“We still insist that given the financial crisis Nigeria finds itself, the timing is not right for this upward review…When you look at each executive office or legislature for example, if you see the resources going to them, you will see that definitely there is no fairness when you look at average worker in Nigeria who has been struggling.
“Most of these people, their medical expenses are covered, even needs and food are covered, transportation covered, housing covered, everything.
“They do nothing with their income. When you look at the package that they have, they don’t really touch anything. That is outside the legitimate ones.
“The illegitimate earnings are even more than what you can think of and that is why we are cautioning against all these things because it is increasing the political violence and do or die politics,” he maintained.
