Lawmakers’ pay still a big secret
By Emmanuel Ogala and Ini Ekott
September 10, 2011 09:43PM
print email


Mid-July this year, the senate leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba announced with some fanfare that the senate had cut its overhead cost - a budget head that covers members’ quarterly constituency running cost and allowances - by some 40 percent.

That same week, the House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee on Media and Publicity also announced with glee that the House had followed suit, reportedly cutting its overhead cost by 67 percent.

Two months after these announcements, officials of both the senate and the House of Representatives agree the cuts have taken effect but neither of the two legislative chambers can show official proof that lawmakers’ emoluments have indeed been reviewed downward.

Officials of both chambers prefer to talk in percentages and would not state categorically what the cuts mean to Nigeria.

When asked, the House of Representatives spokesman, Opeyemi Bamidele, said NEXT should find out what lawmakers earn as a way of establishing if their emoluments had been slashed.

“By the time members receive their next allowance, if there is a way you can find out, you will realise it has been cut by 67 percent,” Mr Bamidele said. But he wouldn’t say how much he and his colleagues currently earn as running costs. He tried very carefully not to mention a figure.

On the other hand, the senate majority leader that doubles as the spokesman of the Senate pending the appointment of one, Victor Ndoma-Egba, also referred NEXT to the office of the Accountant General of the Federations (AGF) where he said records will show that their monthly disbursements have decreased by 40 percent. He also wouldn’t say categorically what the 40 percent reduction translates to in naira.

Other lawmakers who spoke to NEXT on the issue also claim the cuts have set in, but none was willing to discuss exactly how much it was and how much Nigeria will earn as savings from the cuts.

Efforts to get the figures from the AGF’s office - or indeed from the office of the Clerk of the National Assembly - were also not successful as none of the officers spoken to was ready to disclose how much the lawmakers take home every month.

In Nigeria, lawmakers have a penchant for being secretive about their salaries and allowances, especially those not covered by the recommendations of the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission (RMFAC). They have, indeed over the years earned huge illegal allowances amorphously tagged as overhead costs and constituency running cost.

Last December, after Central Bank governor, Lamido Sanusi put the National Assembly on the spot over its huge overhead expenditures, the Senate president pledged to review the National Assembly’s recurrent expenditure downwards.

“Based on realities of our economic situation and the need to channel our scarce resources towards nation building, we must drastically cut down the cost of running government vertically and horizontally in the three arms of government as well as the three tiers of our federating unit,” the Senate president said while receiving the 2011 budget proposal documents in December 2010.

“In this regard, the National Assembly will lead the crusade. We will make the required sacrifice and review downwards our recurrent expenditure. We expect others to make similar sacrifice,” he added.

In the proposal, the National Assembly’s portion in the 2011 budget - including overhead and capital - was N112 billion. But the lawmakers were unimpressed with the figure. So, while passing it, they raised their chunk of the budget by 100 percent, to N224 billion.

In May, President Goodluck Jonathan sought an amendment to the 2011 budget, insisting that it was overbloated. In his amendment, the president proposed a total budget of N120 billion for the National Assembly. That was during the peak of the ex-speaker, Dimeji Bankole’s debacle over unpaid lawmakers’ allowances.

The lawmakers passed the amended budget, pegging their take of the slice of the take to N153 billion.

The announcement of the cut in overhead came after the last amendment of the 2011 budget and Mr Ndoma-Egba, the senate leader, said it kicked in at the beginning of this session. However, and perhaps more significantly, there has been no amendment of the National Assembly budget to reflect the post overhead-cut realities.

“One expects that they would adjust the budget to accommodate the cut since they now run an independent budget,” Dokus Samuel, an analyst said.

Following the amendment of the 1999 Constitution, the National Assembly was put on the first-line charge of the Federation Account, an arrangement that gives parliament financial independence.

Cuts should reflect in budget

Mr Ndoma-Egba, the senate leader argued there is no need for an amendment of the budget to reflect the cut.

He was, however, not willing to disclose how much the overhead-cost cut decision will save the nation even though lawmakers who spoke to NEXT admitted the cut has been applied on their perks.

“They need to be open about these cuts, otherwise if it existed, someone can take advantage of its secrecy and divert the money,” Mr Samuel added.

According to a National Assembly source, the House of Representatives members will now earn N15 million following the 67 percent cut.

That indicates that they were earning N45.45 million quarterly. Possibly, the nation saves N30.45 million on each member quarterly and N121.82 million annually.

There are 360 members of the House of Representatives and collectively, the nation will save N43.8 billion annually by the House of Representatives’ cut.

The senators are 109 and announced a cut of 40 percent. Although they are more discreet about their allowances, on the average, they earned the same quarterly allowance with their House of Representatives counterparts.

At the Senate, the cut means N18 million less the N45 million they earned hitherto. Based on that calculation, the nation is expected to save N72 million on each senator annually. Collectively, the nation is expected to earn N7.8 billion on savings from the senate’s cut.

Estimated total annual savings from the cuts in both chambers is N51.6 billion. This amount is 33 percent of their 2011 budget and, if actually deducted as savings, will significantly affect the National Assembly annual budgets. Yet the

National Assembly leaders say this does not deserve an amendment of the budget.

Kayode Ajulo, an Abuja based lawyer, said the proclamation of both chambers of the National Assembly about overhead cost cuts are mere political statements to score “political sympathy.” “For us to know they have cut, it has to be reflected in the budget,” Mr Ajulo said.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5741654-146/lawmakers_pay_still_a_big_secret.csp