The current announcement by the Income Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Fee, RMAFC, of its plan to assessment the remuneration packages for all political, public and judicial officers in Nigeria rightly provoked nationwide outrage. Though the fee is constitutionally empowered to find out the remunerations of officeholders, its determination to bump up the salaries and allowances of public officers when most Nigerians are experiencing untold financial hardship smacks of utter insensitivity and an abject lack of humanity.
Universally, when a rustic is present process a painful financial interval, amid widespread poverty and inequality, the federal government ought to present that “we’re all in it collectively” by restraining pay will increase for public officers. As an illustration, in 2010, when the then UK authorities launched an austerity coverage to sort out the nation’s debt disaster, the prime minister, ministers and particular advisers took pay cuts. However the “we-are-all-in-it-together” precept is alien to Nigeria as public officers’ remunerations at all times rise sharply simply when poverty is deepening and other people’s disposable incomes are plummeting.
In July, the presidency took umbrage when the US Embassy in Nigeria tweeted: “Whereas Nigerians are urged to endure financial hardship like ‘labour pains’, some governors are splurging billions on new authorities homes.” The presidency accused the US of working a marketing campaign to undermine Nigeria. But, the embassy was merely echoing the common precept that public officers mustn’t dwell in opulence whereas strange residents are condemned to hardship and distress. Final week, Indonesian residents took to the streets to reject a brand new housing perk for the legislators that may improve their month-to-month wage by $3000 when the federal government’s austerity measures have brought on job losses and diminished shopper spending energy. The protests compelled the parliament to chop again on its members’ advantages, together with allowances. That precept of “we’re all in it collectively” throughout financial hardship is so sturdy that almost all governments ordinarily abide by it, whereas others are compelled to take action!
Sadly, not in Nigeria! But, RMAFC stated that in figuring out the remuneration packages for officeholders it’s guided by a) prevailing financial realities and b) remuneration practices in different international locations. However take the primary: How can the prevailing financial realities in Nigeria justify growing the remuneration packages for public officers? Is it the truth that President Tinubu’s financial reforms have pauperised tens of millions of strange Nigerians a lot so that almost all are skipping meals, in line with the Common Family Survey Panel outcomes, printed by the Nationwide Bureau of Statistics final yr? Or is it the truth that the center class, the engine of each economic system, is just about non-existent in Nigeria, having been totally eviscerated? Reality is, the prevailing financial realities in Nigeria merely can’t justify mountaineering up public officers’ salaries and allowances. So, RMAFC fails its personal first check!
“Reality is, the prevailing financial realities in Nigeria merely can’t justify mountaineering up public officers’ salaries and allowances. So, RMAFC fails its personal first check!”
In self-justification, the fee stated: “You’re paying the President N1.5mn a month. Everybody believes that it’s a joke.” It added: “You’ll be able to’t pay a minister lower than N1mn a month.” However does the president actually dwell on N1.5mn a month? Does a minister dwell on lower than N1mn a month? What in regards to the billions of naira budgeted for the president’s workplace yearly? What in regards to the billions budgeted for a minister’s workplace yearly? These are essential questions as a result of exterior of the remuneration packages, the budgets at all times embody billions from which the president, vice-president and ministers usually spend on themselves. The reality is that the Nigerian state indulges and pampers public officers effectively past their formal remuneration packages and in whole disregard of the financial realities. So, it’s not a “joke” that the president formally receives N1.5mn a month.
Which brings us to RMAFC’s second check. The fee says it considers remuneration practices in different international locations in figuring out remuneration packages for Nigerian public officers. Which international locations does it benchmark itself towards? What number of international locations have remuneration packages for public officers that embody such objects as home workers, utilities, leisure, wardrobe, furnishings, home upkeep, and hardship. If public officers are paid for “hardship”, the place are the social security nets to mitigate the utter hardship that the federal government’s financial insurance policies have inflicted on strange Nigerians, a degree not too long ago made by Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in her much-publicised intervention?
However for me, right here’s a extra important query: Does RMAFC’s remuneration packages take account of corruption, or the huge looting of state treasuries by public officers? In a number of international locations, the remuneration packages for officeholders are actually significant a lot in order that every other use of public funds for personal functions can appeal to a felony penalty. As an illustration, not too long ago, the spouse of the Spanish prime minister was charged with embezzlement of public funds for utilizing state funds to pay her assistant for assist with private issues. Would that be thought to be an offence in Nigeria? What number of public officers use public funds for private beneficial properties in Nigeria and achieve this with utter impunity?
Perversely, RMAFC itself admits that it can’t implement adherence to the remuneration packages it produces. In a single assertion, the fee’s chairman, Mohammed Shehu, stated: “I want to state that RMAFC doesn’t have the constitutional powers to implement compliance with correct implementation of the Remuneration package deal.” In 2024, when a former senator, Shehu Sani, disclosed that every senator collects a month-to-month working price of N13.5mn, the chairman of RMAFC issued an announcement saying {that a} senator’s month-to-month wage and allowances totalled solely N1,063,860. So, how come a senator receives greater than N12mn each month? The RMAFC chairman was evasive, saying that “any allegation relating to different allowance (s) being loved by any workplace holder exterior these supplied on the Remuneration packages must be defined by the one who made the allegation.” In different phrases, RMAFC has no management over what public officers are literally paid, regardless of the remuneration packages.
So, what’s the aim of remuneration packages and pay rises if public officers can nonetheless dip their palms into the general public purse and provides themselves no matter quantity they like? Sadly, Nigeria is a rustic the place public officers routinely feather their nests at society’s expense, a rustic the place the large-scale switch of public sources for personal pursuits is rife.
But, laughably, President Tinubu not too long ago stated his administration has ended corruption in Nigeria, saying that due to his financial reforms, “there isn’t a extra corruption.” Given the allegations of large corruption swirling round a few of his ministers, he ought to ask them to publicly declare their property at house and overseas and clarify their sources. It’s fascinating that whereas Tinubu brags about stopping corruption, the EFCC chairman, Ola Olukoyede, not too long ago disclosed that public officers “have perfected the antics of anticipatory declaration of property to justify their supposed stealing of public funds and different acts of corruption.” In different phrases, they’re inflating their property within the declarations in order that after plundering the treasury they will later declare they owned the property earlier than coming into workplace!
Right here’s the inexorable conclusion: the remuneration system is a fraud. Neither the package deal nor its periodic assessment has stopped corruption in Nigeria. If RMAFC can’t implement adherence to a remuneration package deal, it ought to cease deceiving Nigerians that its train is significant. Ultimately, Nigeria wants Unexplained Wealth Orders, UWOs. Public officers who can’t clarify the supply(s) of their wealth past their official salaries should forfeit it! Solely then would RMAFC’s remuneration packages for public officers make sense!
