RMAFC to cut president, legislators salaries
The salaries and allowances of the executives, legislators and the judicial officers will be scaled down to reflect the prevailing economic situation in the country in a fresh review to be carried out by the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) soon.
The commission which is constitutionally empowered to undertake the review of the remuneration packages of the political, public and judicial office holders has set in motion processes for the review of the existing Remuneration Act of 2008 in line with its Constitutional mandate.
Daily Trust learnt that the Nigerian legislators are among the highest paid in the world according to reports. Recent comparism shows that the legislators are earning higher than their counterparts in the United States and United Kingdom. The current Act provides total value of annual salary to senator, house of representatives and states representatives as N8.2 million, N4.2million and 2.4 million respectively.
Elias Mbam, Chairman of the Commission said yesterday in Abuja while inaugurating members of the Remuneration Committee charged with carrying out the review. In carrying out the exercise, Mbam urged the committee to be conscious of the prevailing economic situation and the need to reduce cost of governance so as to free more funds for development.
He also explained that the commission is constitutionally empowered to undertake the review of the remuneration packages as may be required from time to time so as to reflect current economic realities; advise federal and state governments on monetization policies; generate cost of living indices for revision of allowances amongst others.
To this end, Mbam charged the committee to undertake wide consultations with all critical stakeholders including all arms of government of the Federation, the national and state assemblies, states and local governments, professional economic bodies, the organised labour, the academia, the media and Nigerian public in general so as to enrich the process.
The chairman reminds them of the need to ensure that the review effectively minimizes wastages and abuses and ensures prudent management of resources as well.
The committee is expected to holistically review the existing Remuneration Act; identify areas of wastages and abuse, examine the implementation of the monetization policy by MDAs and advise on appropriate remuneration for political, public and judicial officers commensurate with the work they do.
Mbam stressed that the exercise which is expected to reduce cost of governance in line with the current realities where the economy is characterized by inflation and down turn in international oil prices amongst others is envisaged to be completed before the end of September, 2015.
In his remarks after the inauguration, Abdullahi Lawal Inde, RMAFC Federal Commissioner and Chairman of the Remuneration Committee of the commission assured the chairman that the committee will do a thorough job of the task assigned to it and called for prayers and support from Nigerians.