Forum wants action on double pay for ex-govs in Senate

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have urged the Federal Government to stop states from paying salaries to former governors, deputies and ministers currently on the payroll at the federal level.

This is contained in a communiqué after a one-day CSOs and media roundtable weekend in Abuja.

The groups urged the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) and the National Assembly to harmonize salary figures to ensure accountability and transparency in fiscal matters.

The event under the People (V2P) project tagged “Fiscal Transparency of Annual Payments of Salaries, Pension and emoluments for Members of the National Assembly” was organised by the African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development (Centre LSD), DfID and Christian Aid.

Participants said the revelation that 21 serving senators were also receiving salaries from their states as former governors and deputy governors (as pension), was worrisome at time when workers were owed arrears of salaries and the masses groaning under recession.

“The monthly salaries of Nigerian legislators put together are huge and constitute a drain on the meagre resources of the country, thus dampening the ability of the managers of the economy to address the country’s infrastructural deficit,” it said.

The communique urged government and National Assembly members to urgently address the contradiction of the high salary, which places the wealth of the state in the hands of few persons contrary to the stipulation of Section 16 subsection 2 paragraph b and C of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.