Acting President Goodluck Jonathan would as from next month start enjoying allowances due to the President and Commander in Chief, Daily Trust has learnt.

Since he became acting president, Mr. Jonathan has been paid allowances of a vice president.But there have been no laws that allow him to enjoy the allowances of the president.

The Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) is submitting a proposal to the National Assembly recommending that he be paid the allowances.

An impeccable source in RMAFC told Daily Trust on phone that an in-house committee was set up to look into it and the committee recommended to Accountant-General of the Federation that Jonathan gets the allowances of the President.

The source said: "We can't pay him double salaries-the salary of President and Vice President at the same time-what we can do is to pay him the allowances of the president."

But the commission said the new pay package for Jonathan would not affect the allowances and salaries of ailing President Umaru Musa Yar'adua.

RMAFC is one of the 14 executive bodies set up by the Constitution directly. It is not as a result of a law made by the National Assembly.

The Commission fixes the salaries of political office holders including those of the judiciary.

A letter to the National Assembly is being prepared by the RMAFC, Daily Trust learnt.

The source said the allowances will be retroactive to the time Jonathan became acting president.

Base on the revised revenue package of certain political office holders which became effective late last year, Jonathan's annual basic salary is N3, 013, 572.50 while his current allowance is N7, 232, 574.00. The President's annual basic salary is N3, 514, 705 while his allowances add up to N8, 435, 292.

If the RMAFC's recommended for the improvement on the acting president's pay package is approved by the National Assembly, Jonathan would now add the president's allowance of N8, 435, 292 to his basic salary to make it N11, 448, 864.50 instead of his current N10, 246, 146.50 pay package.

The source said that the National Assembly can carry out amendment of the 2008 Act of the RMAFC for the payment to be effected and that this can be done in a week.

"Hopefully, the acting President should start enjoying the allowance by next month," the source added.

In the same vein, any deputy governor of a state that acted on behalf of his governor would also enjoy the allowances of the governor but if a Speaker of the State House of Assembly acted as governor, he is not entitle to any allowance, Daily Trust learnt.