The protesters demanded more openness from the legislature.
Among demands presented to the National Assembly by the youths that September 27 were: a breakdown of how the federal legislators spent their budgetary allocation of N150 billion for this year, and about N1 trillion since 2005; functional contact information – phone numbers, email addresses and physical addresses of their constituency offices; voting records on constitution amendments; publicising of the attendance list for each plenary; and the exact amount that each legislator earns.
The march to the National Assembly was, apparently, spurred by recent revelations about the emoluments of National Assembly members.
A publication by The Economist magazine in July on a global comparison of the salaries of lawmakers in about 29 countries put the pay of Nigerian federal legislators among the highest in the world.
The report said each Nigerian federal legislator received an annual salary of $189, 500 (about N30.6 million). The report, which excludes allowances, examined the legislators’ basic salaries as a ratio of the Gross Domestic Product and concluded that a Nigerian lawmaker got 116 times the country’s GDP of $1, 600.
The report by The Economist said Nigerian legislators were by several thousands of dollars ahead of their counterparts in: Britain who earn $105,400 yearly, the United States, who take $174,000, France ($85,900), South Africa ($104,000), Kenya ($74,500), Saudi Arabia ($64,000), and Brazil ($157,600).
But viewed in terms of ratio of GDP per capita, the gap is even more staggering. While the salary of a federal lawmaker in Nigeria is 116 times the country’s GDP per person, that of his British counterpart is just 2.7 times.
But the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Information and Media, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, dismissed the report as misleading and incorrect. He directed the public to the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission for accurate information on what the federal legislators earn.
In apparent reaction to the pay controversy, on August 3, the RMAFC published details of the legitimate salaries and allowances of National Assembly members, in a public notice signed by the commission’s Acting Secretary Usman I. Garndawa.
RMAFC listed 14 items explaining the allowances received by each senator and member of the House of Representatives, respectively, in the following table:
1. Accommodation: N4 million; N3.97 million
2. Vehicle loan: (once in four years) N8 million; N7.94 million
3. Furniture allowance: (once in four years) N6 million; N5, 956 million
4. Severance gratuity: (once in four years) N6.09 million; N5.956 million
5. Vehicle fuelling and maintenance: N1.52 million; N1.489 million
6. Constituency allowance: N5 million; N4.985 million
7. Domestic staff: N1.519 million; N1.488 million
8. Personal assistant: N506, 600; N496, 303
9. Entertainment: N607, 920; N595, 563
10. Recess: N202, 640; N198, 521
11. Utilities: N607, 920; N397, 042
12. Newspapers/periodicals: N303, 960; N297, 781
13. House Maintenance: N101, 321; N99, 260
14. Wardrobe: N506, 600; N496, 303.
Garndawa said the legislators’ regular, non-regular, and optional allowances should be separated to get a clear picture of their remuneration. “Regular allowances are paid regularly with basic salaries while non-regular allowances are paid as at when due.” He stated that vehicle allowance is an optional loan.
The acting secretary added, “The commission also wishes to use this opportunity to state that any other allowance(s) enjoyed by any political, public office holders outside those provided in the Remuneration Act of 2008 is not known to the commission and the chief accounting officer should be held accountable.”
But former Minister of Education, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, insisted that there might, indeed, be remunerations received by members of the National Assembly that are not known to RMAFC. On August 19, as keynote speaker at a civil society roundtable on “Cost of Governance,” organised by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, Ezekwesili gave a breakdown of how the National Assembly spent about N1 trillion in the last eight years, while reiterating the report published by The Economist.
She followed up her analysis with a statement challenging the National Assembly to organise a public hearing on the pay of its members.
As a former key member of the country’s Economic Management Team, Ezekwesili is one Nigerian who should know the issues she has raised, and many Nigerians believe her.
The National Assembly has had no answers to the allegations, beyond its cliché-ridden reference to the RMAFC. But this, obviously, can no longer do in the circumstance.
It’s time the National Assembly came clean about the remuneration of the federal legislators – at least for the integrity of that key organ of democracy.
Source: Thisday
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