Slices of the National Cake

Reuben Abati begs to dissent from the hardship allowance being proposed by the Revenue mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission of Nigeria. Below are a few highlights of his dissent. Hear him..

The present administration had hardly settled down when it was reported that members of the National Assembly - Senators and members of the House of Representative - had been paid jumbo allowances (in the region of N48 million each) to take care of their pressing needs; to enable them settle down in Abuja. The public outcry against this eventually died down as each lawmaker pocketed the fat allowances.


If the President, the Vice President or any of the Governors and their Deputies feel that they are experiencing any hardship, they are free to step aside. And who is talking about hardship? These are public officers who live in free houses, eat free food, drive free cars, they also enjoy free medical care, uncountable privileges, enormous goodwill, all in spite of the so-called 2001 monetisation policy of government. Indeed, the truth is that the political leadership in this country is parasitic. The man in power is a leech, sucking the blood of the state. The proposed hardship allowance by the way, does not cancel out the Security Vote which is a big tranche of money that the President and the Governors can spend as they wish. Paying these public officers an additional 50 per cent of their annual basic salary as hardship allowance makes no sense whatsoever.


I have looked around. I can find only one political office holder who can claim that he is undergoing some hardship on account of his present status. And that is Vice Admiral Murtala Nyako, the Governor of Adamawa state who is having serious problems deciding who among his four wives (Binta, Halima, Zainab and Asamau) should be the First Lady of Adamawa state. The Governor has tried to resolve the matter by dividing the First Lady portfolio (an illegal office which is unknown to the Constitution) into four with each wife being granted jurisdiction over a particular state concern. The distribution is as follows - Justice Binta Nyako (First Lady in charge of Abuja Affairs) - Being a judge should have been enough work for Her Lordship (!). Dr. Halima Nyako (First Lady in charge of the Health Sector); Hajia Zainab Nyako (First Lady in charge of Political Affairs and Mobilisation) and Asamau Nana Nyako (First Lady in charge of the Home Front).


Constituency allowance is one of the most abused sub-heads in the pay package for public officials, including lawmakers. Another is the Legislative Aides allowances (for PA, SA, domestic staff).


More pay for the President and others is not a priority for Nigeria at this time. The constitutionally- granted powers of the RMAFC should be exercised with a sense of responsibility and greater sensitivity to current realities. And just to further show how reckless the recommendations of the RMAFC are: part-time Members of Federal bodies are to collect a sitting allowance of N500, 000 per meeting (!) and as newspapers/periodicals allowance, ministers will get N303,960 per annum, ministers of state (N293,637), special advisers (N291,431.25); and Senators (N303,960). Hamman Tukur and his team must be joking.

Read full article here: http://odili.net/news/source/2007/sep/14/32.html