By Chibuzo Ukaibe, Leadership Nigeria
Running the bicameral legislature in Nigeria is very expensive. Since 1999, the running cost of the National Assembly and the states houses of assemblies have been rising to intolerable level with Nigerians crying blue murder. After succumbing to pressures by Nigerians to cut their jumbo package, Chibuzo Ukaibe, in this piece looks at whether lawmakers of the national assembly can adjust to the new development.
When the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi declared that legislators gulped a huge chunk of the national budget- an amazing 25 percent- it sparked off a tirade from virtually all sectors of the country.
From the academic community to the civil society, the legislators came under intense criticisms. The criticisms were anchored on the larger than life lifestyle they live which was a sharp contrast to the pervasive squalor of those they represent.
It was unhealthy for the country and its economy which is stifled under the weight of a crippled power sector, lethargic infrastructure and massive unemployment.
The outcry was further intensified by renowned scholar of Law, Professor Itse Sagay who said Nigerian federal legislators are the highest paid legislators in the globe, and that their salaries and allowances represent a cruel anomaly in the country’s democratic governance.
Putting it in perspective, he noted that the Nigerian Senate President earned N88.33 million per month while his deputy earned N50 million, comparing their pay with what US President Barrack Obama who “earns $400,000 per annum while British Prime Minister David Cameron goes home with 190,000 pounds.”
According to Sagay, the anomaly is a breach of public trust. “A senator earns N240 million ($1.7 million) in salaries and allowances while his House of Representatives counterpart earns about N204 million ($1.45 million) per annum,” Sagay said.
The erudite Professor said an American senator “earns $174, 000 while a UK parliamentarian earns about $64, 000 per annum, which is very low compared to that of Nigerian lawmakers when compared with what their colleagues earn in the United States and United Kingdom.”
“In spite of the dismal standard of living, poverty of the country and low income per capita of the country, Nigerian legislators in Abuja have awarded themselves the highest salaries and allowances in the world. In 2009, the federal legislators received a total of N102.8 billion comprising N11.8 billion as salaries and N90.96 billion as non taxable allowances,”
He described it as a tragic situation that is clearly unsustainable, saying the anomaly “is seriously endangering our democracy.”
It is alleged that these hardly include expenses incurred on duty tours and estacode, as well as the allocations that come from ‘oversight functions’ and ‘lobbying.
But the legislature has explained that there is actually a difference between what people describe as jumbo pay and the actual earnings of the members which are fixed by Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission.
According to the Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, at a press conference in July: “My pay has not been cut. My salary has not been cut because salaries are fixed by Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission.
“What has been cut is our overheads, our running cost, what you people refer to as jumbo pay. I want to be categorical that the salaries of National Assembly members have not been cut. We earn about the same salaries as ministers and Supreme Court Judges and I am not aware that their salaries have been cut.
“So if we are earning jumbo pay then it means that ministers and Supreme Court Judges are also earning jumbo pay. What has been cut is the over head cost of the National Assembly. It was a decision of the National Assembly.
“We committed ourselves to reducing the cost of governance. If you recall when Mr President came to present the 2011 budget, the president of the Senate made a commitment that this National Assembly was going to do everything in its power to reduce the cost of governance.
“And that we are going to show the example, so we have taken the lead by reducing the cost of running the National Assembly and we are hoping that the other arms of government will follow.
“Our responsibility is to the Federal Government. But at every level of governance in this country, let me put it this way; that every level of government is implicated in the high cost of governance, from the council right up to the Federal Government. So we believe that the states also play a role in ensuring that the cost of governance comes down.”
Chairman of the House ad-hoc committee on media, Mr. Michael Opeyemi Bamidele corroborated Ndoma –Egba. Chairman of RMAFC, Engineer Elias Mbam said apart fom salaries his commission also stipulates how much is to be paid for estacodes and overnight allowances. He however warned that it is illegal for lawmakers or any government officials to earn estacodes or allowances outside what the commission has approved. RMAFC is constitutionally empowered to determine the remuneration of all public office holders, including the president and his vice, governors, ministers, commissioners, special advisers and legislators, amongst others as listed in Sections 84 and 124 of the 1999 constitution. “Any other salaries and allowances being enjoyed by any political office holder outside those provided by the law or determined by the commission from time to time, in accordance with the provisions of the constitution are not known to the commission. Mbam stressed.
LEADERSHIP gathered that the Senate president is to earn N2.4 million as annual basic salary and a total annual emolument of N8.6 million. The speaker of the House of Representatives is to earn N2.4 million, annual basic salary and a total emolument of N4.95 million which amounts to N0.4million monthly. A senator is supposed to earn N12. 76 million per annum and members of the House of Representatives are to earn N9.52 million per annum.
With the commencement of the 40 percent slash, LEADERSHIP learnt that while some of the senators still grapple with the cut in the running costs, others have taken it in stride, “reworked their budgets to reflect current realities”.
It was also learnt that many times when senators visit their constituencies they often spend hugely as they attend to personal needs of their constituents as their house/constituency offices are thronged by those they represent on the slightest whiff of their usually short visit. Their offices in Abuja are not spared as well.
Analysts opine that the posh cars and huge spending are not going to fizzle away soon even as demands on them from their constituencies can only increase (which is usually driven by the members need to ensure their political survival).
Also it was gathered that majority of legislators have their children and wards in expensive schools, locally and internationally.
LEADERSHIP can reveal that the members are not taking the cuts easy as they had to adopt other means of making ends meet.
To make up for the cut in their running cost and meet the demands (before the slash), the ministries and Departments and Agencies have started receiving sterner attention by the legislators to ostensibly make up for what they have lost through the pay cut, a source in the National Assembly said.
The National Assembly has the constitutional right, while performing its oversight function, to summon any ministry, department or agency to provide update on their activities.
But a source in the second estate of the realm believes there has never been any attempt to drain the executive arm of government. ‘‘Most lawmakers are accomplished businessmen, captains of industries and professionals from all works of life. So most of them are quite wealthy before they came to the legislature,’’ the source assured.
A lawmaker who craved for anonymity believes it is not right to generalize that everybody there is out to squander money or be bandied as trying to make money from arm twisting the MDAs while engaging in their oversight functions. Such a perception he said would not be in the overall interest of the country.
