Agency Report
The Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Mohammed Shehu, has kicked against claims that politicians earn more than they should do in Nigeria.
He said this during a public lecture and book presentation event organised by Economic Confidential on Tuesday in Abuja.
Various economic experts have said that the cost of governance is too high in the country, calling for a review in line with economic realities.
Recently, the Director-General of the Budget Office, Ben Akabueze, had during a policy dialogue on corruption and cost of governance in Nigeria organised by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission expressed concerns over the increasing cost of governance.
He had said, “There have been persistent calls for reduction of governance cost in Nigeria in view of the impact on governmental fiscal situation.
“The current system is clearly unsustainable; hence this national dialogue on corruption and the cost of governance in Nigeria is very timely.
However, the commission chairman has disclosed that the document to be presented to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), will be only for the review of the salaries of judges and not politicians.
On judges’ salary, he said, “The Commission drafted an Act back in 2017 and it became law in 2018. Since then, the commission has never reviewed that. This year, we have done our job. Our report is ready and will be presented to the president so that if he feels it is a good document, he will send it to the National Assembly, and the National Assembly will make it a law and review the remuneration of judges.”
Shehu further noted that the president earns about N1.3m monthly, which includes his allowance.
He further kicked against agencies, whose heads earn more than the president.
“A lot of people feel strongly that politicians are unduly earning something that they should not earn. But it is really practically not true. I can tell so that they salary of Mr President, like I have said publicly, is just about N1,200,000 to N1,300,000 a month including all his allowances.
“I am sure some of you know that there are agencies here where their heads earn about N135m a year. There is another agency that I know that the head of the agency earns N5m a month. There is another agency that the head earns N2m a month. I strongly feel that no public servant in Nigeria should earn a salary higher than the salary of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. But that debate is for another time,” Shehu said.
The RMAFC boss further said that the Senate president and governors each earn less than N1.2m monthly.
He also explained that the huge allocation to Senators and the House of Representatives is due to the constituency projects that required funding.