Nigerian govt mulls increase in politicians’ salaries, says it’ll curb corruption

The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission has stated that it has examined the compensation package for those who hold political office in the nation and will soon begin putting it into practise.

The RMAFC Federal Commissioner in Charge of Gombe State, Kabiru Usman, stated these in an interview with journalists shortly after paying a courtesy visit to the Governor Bala Mohammed, on Thursday at the Government House, Bauchi.

The RMAFC contended that given the current economic difficulties facing the nation, raising the salaries of those who occupy political power in the nation is required.

Additionally, it was stated that paying them more would aid in reducing or preventing corruption because well-paid public officials wouldn’t divert funds from the government.

He asserted that as the Commission is authorised by law to regulate the salaries of the nation’s political office holders and judicial employees, raising their pay will help them fulfil their assigned duties.

Usman said, “You see, political office holders are human beings, they are also public workers and they go to the same markets with everyone.

Read Also: RMAFC Chairman, Shehu, gives reasons for review of public office holders’ salaries

“The Commission, under paragraph 32b is empowered to determine the salaries of political office holders and judicial workers in the country. So, we have undertaken work on it, we have revised it but we are looking at the situation for now. What we are doing is we are not doing it to allow somebody to have a very fat salary, whatever we are paying, there are certain principles that we look upon before we increase that salary.

“Apart from the cost of living index, initially, the former salary that we had when a bag of rice was sold, maybe N200 or N300 now the same bag of rice is over N50,000, so you see how things have changed. The cost of utilities, gas, electricity, and telephone, are going astronomically high; so because of that, you have to review.

“If you say you’ll just pay a Governor N5,000 for the cost of telephone, how many hours does the governor need to talk in a day? If you say that I am a Minister and that you are giving me only a bag of rice in my house, is that adequate? Will it cater to my people? So, we are also looking at the responsibilities attached to that office.

“When you have a commissioner who is your classmate, your friend, your neighbour, you all go to him when you have a problem. So, assuming his salary is also N30,000 like your own, would you go to him?”

The Federal Commissioner defended the decision to raise the pay of those who hold political office by pointing out that doing so will aid in combating the corruption threat.

“In all honesty, we are doing that with all sense of responsibility. We don’t want corruption.

“So, if somebody is managing millions and you say his salary is only N50,000, are you sure he’s not going to temper with what is under his care? So, these are some of the principles we are using,” he stated.

Data on the remuneration package for public service holders from RMFAC revealed that a minister’s monthly salary is fixed at N650,135.99. This means that a minister gets N7.801 million per annum.

A breakdown of this amount showed that the basic salary of a minister is N2,026,400 per annum; vehicle fueling N1,519,800; personal assistance, N506,600; domestic staff, N1,519,800; entertainment, N911,880; utilities, N607,920; monitoring, N405,280 and newspapers, N303,960.

These exclude other allowances approved for ministers by the RMAFC such as N16.20m for accommodation for four years; furniture allowance, N6.079m; severance gratuity, N6.079m; leave allowance, N0.81m and motor vehicle allowance, N8.1m.

Based on the analysis, each of the 48 ministers will get a N31.2m salary for four years. This implies that all of them will receive N1.497bn as monthly salary for the next four years.

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