The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal
Commission on Wednesday described the jumbo pay of the members of
the sixth National Assembly as strange.
It put the total monthly ‘emolument’ of a senator at N1.06m and that of a House of Representatives member at N794, 000.
The RMAFC Chairman, Mr. Elias Mbam, made this known at an interactive session between the nation’s anti-graft agencies and members of the National Assembly in Abuja.
Mbam said, “We have heard a lot said about the emoluments of legislators; some say it is N15m per month. The monthly emolument of a senator is N1.06m; that of a member of the House is N794,000 before any deductions are made.
“That is the emolument as we know it at the commission; it is proper to make this clarification.”
An emolument, according to World English Dictionary, is profit arising from an office or an employment, usually in the form of fees or wages.
The National Assembly had come under serious public attack after the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Lamido Sanusi, stated that 25 per cent of the nation’s overhead was being spent on legislators.
Many Nigerians and groups had, therefore, called for a reduction of the ‘jumbo pay’ of the federal lawmakers.
As at that time, each senator was earning about N15m a month or N45m per quarter, including allowances, while a House of Representatives member took home about N10m monthly or N30m per quarter.
But just as the dust was settling, it became public knowledge that the House of Representatives hiked the quarterly salaries and allowances of its members from N28m to N42m after it its leadership got a N10bn loan from a commercial bank.
In what he described as a clarification, Mbam told the federal lawmakers that it was not aware of the said jumbo pay of their predecessors.
He stated that the power to fix the remuneration of legislators was vested in the RMAFC by the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and did not require the approval of any other authority.
Some fresh and returning senators had protested at the venue, calling on the commission to publish the remuneration of lawmakers.
Senator Ita Enang, for instance, observed that the issue of remuneration had been used to ‘blackmail’ members of the National Assembly.
He claimed that ministers and other office-holders in the executive arm of government were receiving higher pay than members of the legislature.
The lawmaker wondered why that was never a matter for public interest.
In a move to calm the senators, the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mrs. Farida Waziri, advised members of the National Assembly to make their salaries and allowances public.
She also urged them to make reports of their oversight activities on federal agencies available to the anti-graft agency for investigation.
Waziri said a public declaration of their emoluments would raise their profile in the eyes of Nigerians.
She pointed out that “sustainable development and the attainment of the Vision 2020 cannot be attained without simultaneously and aggressively combating corruption.
“Corruption is endemic. We have all agreed and every Nigerian is concerned about this cankerworm - corruption.”
She said the EFCC had made some landmark achievements in its fight against corruption by recovering $11bn from fraudsters and publicofficials in the last seven years.
The commission, according to her, had also secured about 600 convictions against oil thieves, public officials and fraudsters.
Waziri said, “The commission operates independent of any other authority or persons ; in relation to the Presidency, our dealing is purely based on policy. It does not take directive from them on its day to day operations.
“All cases investigated by us is based on facts and merits. The services of the commission are not for political disputes and have never been. They are not to settle scores of personal quarrels.”
Earlier, the President of the Senate, David Mark, stressed the need for the National Assembly and the Budget Office of the Federation to halt the bickering over appropriation bills.
He said there was a misunderstanding between the legislature and the executive in 2007 over the budget.
Mark blamed it on members of the cabinet who, according to him, misadvised the then President Umaru Yar’Adua on the role of the National Assembly in the treatment of national budgets.
He said the executive threatened to go to court at the time because it felt the National Assembly should not make input in the budget.
“We were adamant and we asked them to go to court if they wanted to do so because we indeed have to make inputs in the budget,” Mark said.
Some federal lawmakers at the event expressed doubts about the EFCC’s claim to independence. They noted that it was fond of pursuing only politicians opposed to the Federal Government.
By John Ameh and Josiah Oluwole, Abuja Courtesy Of: Punch
It put the total monthly ‘emolument’ of a senator at N1.06m and that of a House of Representatives member at N794, 000.
The RMAFC Chairman, Mr. Elias Mbam, made this known at an interactive session between the nation’s anti-graft agencies and members of the National Assembly in Abuja.
Mbam said, “We have heard a lot said about the emoluments of legislators; some say it is N15m per month. The monthly emolument of a senator is N1.06m; that of a member of the House is N794,000 before any deductions are made.
“That is the emolument as we know it at the commission; it is proper to make this clarification.”
An emolument, according to World English Dictionary, is profit arising from an office or an employment, usually in the form of fees or wages.
The National Assembly had come under serious public attack after the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Lamido Sanusi, stated that 25 per cent of the nation’s overhead was being spent on legislators.
Many Nigerians and groups had, therefore, called for a reduction of the ‘jumbo pay’ of the federal lawmakers.
As at that time, each senator was earning about N15m a month or N45m per quarter, including allowances, while a House of Representatives member took home about N10m monthly or N30m per quarter.
But just as the dust was settling, it became public knowledge that the House of Representatives hiked the quarterly salaries and allowances of its members from N28m to N42m after it its leadership got a N10bn loan from a commercial bank.
In what he described as a clarification, Mbam told the federal lawmakers that it was not aware of the said jumbo pay of their predecessors.
He stated that the power to fix the remuneration of legislators was vested in the RMAFC by the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and did not require the approval of any other authority.
Some fresh and returning senators had protested at the venue, calling on the commission to publish the remuneration of lawmakers.
Senator Ita Enang, for instance, observed that the issue of remuneration had been used to ‘blackmail’ members of the National Assembly.
He claimed that ministers and other office-holders in the executive arm of government were receiving higher pay than members of the legislature.
The lawmaker wondered why that was never a matter for public interest.
In a move to calm the senators, the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mrs. Farida Waziri, advised members of the National Assembly to make their salaries and allowances public.
She also urged them to make reports of their oversight activities on federal agencies available to the anti-graft agency for investigation.
Waziri said a public declaration of their emoluments would raise their profile in the eyes of Nigerians.
She pointed out that “sustainable development and the attainment of the Vision 2020 cannot be attained without simultaneously and aggressively combating corruption.
“Corruption is endemic. We have all agreed and every Nigerian is concerned about this cankerworm - corruption.”
She said the EFCC had made some landmark achievements in its fight against corruption by recovering $11bn from fraudsters and publicofficials in the last seven years.
The commission, according to her, had also secured about 600 convictions against oil thieves, public officials and fraudsters.
Waziri said, “The commission operates independent of any other authority or persons ; in relation to the Presidency, our dealing is purely based on policy. It does not take directive from them on its day to day operations.
“All cases investigated by us is based on facts and merits. The services of the commission are not for political disputes and have never been. They are not to settle scores of personal quarrels.”
Earlier, the President of the Senate, David Mark, stressed the need for the National Assembly and the Budget Office of the Federation to halt the bickering over appropriation bills.
He said there was a misunderstanding between the legislature and the executive in 2007 over the budget.
Mark blamed it on members of the cabinet who, according to him, misadvised the then President Umaru Yar’Adua on the role of the National Assembly in the treatment of national budgets.
He said the executive threatened to go to court at the time because it felt the National Assembly should not make input in the budget.
“We were adamant and we asked them to go to court if they wanted to do so because we indeed have to make inputs in the budget,” Mark said.
Some federal lawmakers at the event expressed doubts about the EFCC’s claim to independence. They noted that it was fond of pursuing only politicians opposed to the Federal Government.
By John Ameh and Josiah Oluwole, Abuja Courtesy Of: Punch
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