on the nation's lawmakers at the National Assembly (consisting of the upper chamber, the Senate; and the House of Representatives -- the lower chamber). The revelation was made by Mallam Lamido Sanusi, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), while delivering a convocation lecture at the Igbinedion University, Okada, near Benin-City, Edo State. He was invited by the premier private university to speak on the topic, “Growth Prospects for the Nigerian Economy”.
Without mincing words, Sanusi told his audience and, by extension, Nigerians that no meaningful economic development can be achieved except our leaders address their minds to the critical issue of judicious management of the nation's vast resources. He was concerned about the lack of progress that has characterized Nigeria's national development since independence which has led to Nigeria trailing far behind the emerging Asian countries like Thailand, Malaysia, China, India and Indonesia, noting that Nigeria was far ahead of these countries in the 70's.
He observed that these emerging Asian countries are not only miles ahead of Nigeria, hut are also major players on the global economic arena having transformed their economies substantially, while Nigeria is struggling with weak economic performance despite the vast natural and human resources. This partly explains why Sanusi recommended that the nation be put back on the path of growth and sustainability through the prioritization of the economy and eliminating channels of wasteful expenditure like the issue of 25 per cent of total annual overhead cost of the federal budget allotted to few persons who serve as lawmakers.
While defending the figures before members of the Senate Standing Committee on Appropriation, Banking and Finance and Millennium Development Goals, Sanusi was quoted as saying that 2010 statistics from the Budget Office reveled that, “Total government overhead is N536,268,490,280. The total overhead of the National Assembly is N136,259,768,112 which is exactly 25.1 per cent of Federal Government overhead.” He compared this to the percentage figures of the Federal Government budgets of 2009 and 2008, which had 19.87 and 14.19 per cent as respectively total overhead of the National Assembly, showing a growing trend in overhead expenditure for the lawmakers.
Sanusi's observation was not the first on the staggering jumbo pay of Nigeria's federal lawmakers. It only brought a new dimension to the trend where those elected into office willfully abuse the power such positions confers on them, rather than using it to make policies that translate into meaningful social and economic development for the people. Definitely, no well-meaning citizen, genuinely concerned about the welfare and future of this country, will fail to frown at such anomaly, which is capable of having far-reaching negative effects on the lives of the populace.
A recent media publication had revealed that the Federal Government spends a staggering N67.32 billion as salaries and other allowances to keep the federal lawmakers in office for one year. According to sources credited to the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC, the 109 senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria earn a total take-home of N21.62 billion in one year, while the 390 members of the House of Representatives enjoy a total take-home of N45.699 billion. Further details on the overall pay of the National Assembly members show that each Senator earns a monthly pay of N15.18 million, while each of the House of Representatives member receives a monthly pay of N10.59 million.
When this is multiplied into the 4-year tenure of each lawmaker, it shows that the 469 federal lawmakers earn not less than N269.28 billion per term. This figure excludes a severance package of N6,079,200 million upon successful completion of a term for each Senator, while each member of the House of Representatives is entitled to a severance package of N5,955,637 million. There are other entitlements that are not readily highlighted such as N23,000 per night as duty tour allowance for each Senator while travelling within Nigeria and an estacode of $800 a night when they travel outside Nigeria. The figure for the House of Representatives members N21,000 duty allowance per night for travels within Nigeria and S550 estacode per night for trips outside Nigeria.
In spite of these staggering earnings which the Federal lawmakers appropriate to themselves, some of them have dabbled into corrupt practices that run into billions of Naira, thus shortchanging Nigerians at the expense of the development of critical sectors of the economy such as power, education, health, roads and employment-generating capacities. These are sectors that ought to be managed to make life meaningful for the people. It is difficult, if not impossible for the economy to develop at the rate our national resources are mindlessly squandered by the leaders at various levels. This is why we consider Sanusi's revelation very critical at a time the poverty level in Nigeria is put at 54.4 percent with rising unemployment at 19.7 percent, according to Sanusi quoting from data issued by the National Bureau of Statistics.
We observe that the National Assembly members have not taken Sanusi's revelation kindly as they consider it a slight on their exalted position. It is also sad that the federal lawmakers are said to be gunning for Sanusi's head by initiating a probe into the affairs of the Central Bank, apparently to pay Sanusi in his own coins. We do not consider this the right way to approach the matter. Before Sanusi's revelation, the issue of jumbo pay for members of the federal legislature has been one of public debate when it was commented upon by some notable Nigerians some months back. While Nigerians are not against the lawmakers earning their pay for services they render their fatherland, appropriating such huge amount to themselves without considering the effects on the overall development of the economy is, to say the least, heartless and extremely unpatriotic.
When compared with advance clime, what the federal lawmakers are earning amount to abuse of power and breach of public trust. A UK parliamentarian takes home $64,000 per annum while an American counterpart with greater GNP and GDP earns $174,000. Nigeria's lawmakers take home equivalent of over $1million. The UK and American lawmakers are far ahead of their Nigerian counterparts in terms of output and making of laws that would impact positively on the greatest number of the people, and the world economy.
It is illusory to nurse the hope that democracy could thrive in Nigeria without the strong foundation of a viable economy. Given the fact that the last 11 years of democracy has been all politics with little or no room for any fundamental initiative on the economy, giving room for wasteful expenditure is not a mark of good leadership. For a country, which has been going through a number of false starts in its development efforts, the legislature should serve as a channel of laws for good governance rather than a channel for draining of public resources into personal pockets to the detriment of the overall development of the country.
BH is of the strong opinion that the National Assembly members would do more honour to the hallowed chambers by desisting from turning the argument of their unrealistic jumbo pay into a threat as if Sanusi was fighting a personal cause. The approach belittles the status of the lawmakers. Urgent steps should be taken to effect a downward review of the overall pay of the lawmakers.
Also, the revised salary structure formulated by RMAFC and contained in the Bill entitled, “Certain Political Public and Judicial office Holders (Salaries and Allowances etc) (Amendment) Act, 2008” which was forwarded to the National Assembly through the Executive about 18 months ago, should be passed by the National Assembly without further delay.
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