Can Nigeria sustain lawmakers’ jumbo pay?

By AKOMA CHINWEOKE (Vanguard).

All efforts by senators to extract an apology from the Central Bank Governor Sanusi failed last week as he stuck by his gun that the 25 per cent of the overhead of Federal Government funds goes to the lawmakers. Sanusi attributed his source of information to the 2010 Appropriation Act in the office of the Director General of the Budget Office. Sunday Vanguard Business spoke to economic experts on the raging issue.

There is no justification for what political office holders earn – Yinka – Odumakin, spokesman, Save Nigeria Group (SNG):
It is unfortunate that we are living in a country where workers have to engage in a maximum struggle to get a minimum wage of N18 ,000 and the lawmakers are carting away millions every month for three-day works in a week.

It is outrageous, especially in an economy where the poverty incidence is 76 percent, where 76 out of every 100 people live below N150 per day, there is no justification to what the law makers, political officeholders, governors, council chairmen and councilors are earning. We need a system change .

By 2011, we need a paradigm shift and a kind of leadership that brings in the remedy of freshness which can give the country a fresh start and ensure that the wealth of the country is equitably distributed between those in power and those that are being governed. We must ensure that our collective wealth is not concentrated in the hands of those in government.

The CBN governor should be commended for standing up like a man before the Senate to say that he stands by his belief and cannot be intimidated in his submission to reverse his words and until we begin to have professionals like him and people who will not shy away from telling the truth for the love of office, we would never get things right. If people begin to collapse capital expenditure and begin to share it, there is a problem.

Sanusi Lamido has shown that he is a thorough bred professional who is courageous enough to stand by his words and by the truth . Except the lawmakers are able to disprove what he has said based on facts, I don’t think they have any basis to continue to arm twist him

There is lack of cohesion in our economic affairs — Ochiagha Reagan Ufumba, president, Reagan Renaissance Group:
That less than three percent of the budget is voted for lawmakers simply explains lack of cohesion, harmony and coordination in our economic affairs .

When Sanusi took over, he did promise the nation that he would bring about linkages in our conduct in economic affairs and I don’t think he has been able to do that . That is why we are talking from all sides of our mouth.

So, I think he should bring about cohesion and there should be linkages, records, and harmony in state of affairs . They should work harder.

Things have turned awry for our sense of morality —Comrade Debo Adeniran, founder, Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL)
My reaction to it is that our leaders lack simple moral values that responsible leadership entails. It shows their level of wickedness imbued with sadism.

If in a country that parades a preponderance of citizens living below one dollar per day or 30 dollars per month making about 360 dollars per annum and their elected representatives earn 1.7million dollars for a senator and 1.45million dollars per rep, then things have turned awry for our sense of morality in this country.

This is the same country where the same leaders are reluctant to legislate a minimum wage of N18,000 for career officers who oil the machinery of their operations. Meanwhile, they have cleverly legislated a minimum wage of N32,084 for workers of the National Assembly to cover their tracks . The Clerk of the House earn N1.2 million per month while the Senate President earns about N83million per month!

All of these only show that our leaders are irredeemable looters. When they jack up budgets, it is usually not for development projects but to increase their take-home pay. They allocate 25 percent of the budget to themselves but have never thought of meeting up the UNESCO-recommended 16percent budgetary allocation to education or any of the MDGs. They do not care about joblessness, homelessness and hopelessness that stare an average Nigerian youth in the face. They never cared about the suffering of Nigerian masses on dilapidated roads or their children and spouses that die daily of preventable diseases. They can therefore never legislate just laws for the people.

The only way out of the miasma is a constitutional review that will make it impossible for any organ of government to determine its own salary. Salaries should be determined by the RMAFC in uniformity with what obtains with career officers in federal or state civil service.

Legislators should not be provided constituency project allowances. If their constituency desires any particular project, the legislator should only ensure such project is included in the budget and plays its oversight functions to ensure the executive implements it.

The constitution should also make regular constituency meetings compulsory so as to ensure that legislators take opinions of their constituents into consideration when they support decisions at the parliaments. This will also ensure that constituents have the opportunity of disciplining their erring representatives. Procedure for recalling non_performing legislators should also be made simpler so as to instill discipline in the inconsiderate recalcitrant elements.

We need revolution to oppose corruption in the economy—Chief Martins Onovo, National Leader, Strategic Union of Professionals for the Advancement of Nigeria, SUPA:

The first thing is that we are dealing with a state where the foundation itself is wrong. The people in power are illegitimate , corrupt and ineffective and people in general will naturally do what is beneficial. We need to insist on honesty and hardwork which are the basis for building a good society; so it is illegal for lawmakers to fix their remuneration.

It is our duty as young professionals who have appreciation of the situation to become more active and through activism confront this decadence and prevailing national depravity. What happens here is unimaginable. It is illegal for them to operate or get compensated outside their legal remuneration .

The public doesn’t know what they earn and this is why they must be compelled to pass the Freedom of Information Bill. If the people who are their employers cannot tell what they earn, what kind of a system are we running? This is a country where minimum wage as at today by law is N5,500. The lawmakers have been getting such a huge compensation because Nigeria is not only dysfunctional but lawless . If the reports from the media are correct, then they need to refund the illegal money they have been collecting. I know they are going to politically retaliate so harshly against the CBN governor that if he is not a strong man he may regret his utterances and if he is not protected by the media, nobody will ever stand up again. In Nigeria today, anybody who stands up gets knocked down and the people are now so timid and complacent that nobody stands up .

Even the country’s president cannot call the lawmakers to order because we do not have the cultural, institutional and social protection against this kind of deviant conduct. A lawmaker who before he went to National Assembly was practicing law in a small office but on getting there he spends an estimate of N500 million to establish an NGO and nobody is asking how is he able to finance this.

Most of them have homes abroad and go for medi- care there and have foreign accounts which are not allowed by Nigerian law otherwise how do they make payments for their foreign transactions? So, if anything goes wrong here, they are out on the next flight while we the masses are stuck. So they have no reason to make Nigeria work .

There must be a revolution and it is the victims that need to rise up and oppose this corruption .The country has degenerated to a point of lawlessness and that is why people are getting away with bribery, forgery, rigging and violence. You cannot build on wrong foundation . We have already gone too far down the wrong line. So, we must have a revolutionary change and 2011 presents an opportunity. If we make sure we have a free and fair election where the people determine who is power, then those in power would be answerable to us.

When they were spending outrageously to get to power, we kept quiet. Now that they are trying to recoup their investments, we are complaining. Has one Senate President not told us that as much or nearly so? We are already in for it for now. Let's wait for another chance to attack the problem from the root. Next time you see them spending like stupid to get our votes, beware and run. They are out to do business, not to serve.

One thing with the Nigerians is,we shouldn't have been fighting for the seek of the nation rather for ourselves you will find it difficult for a true Nigerian to retaliate on the issue bothering the nation a times we used to respond against the case that would effect our personalities and the likes, that is why i will not support Sanusi action nor the Senetors as well, May Allah almighty bless us with better education and utilize it as well and end all rubbish that we were encountering years without count from our looters/leaders as well.

So unfortunate that precious moments to make a good name which is better than oil and money is being wasted in the bids to protect personal gains.