RMAFC And Review Of Emoluments

The Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Mr Elias Mbam was recently reported to have disclosed that his commission had commenced the process of reviewing the emoluments of political and judicial office holders in the country.
Speaking to newsmen on the sidelines of the 7th ‘O fela’ festival and 30th anniversary of the Coronation of the Ezeogu Dominic Aloh as transitional ruler of Amagu Community in Ebonyi State, the RMAFC Chairman, who was conferred with a chieftaincy title, noted the commission’s responsibility to embark on the exercise, adding that a public hearing would soon be conducted to get inputs from Nigerians.
President Muhammadu Buhari, while swearing in Mr Mbam and the other 29 commissioners in June 2019, charged the commission to concentrate more on expanding the sources of revenue of the Federation Account and other non-oil sources including solid minerals; and use all legal ways and means to strengthen its monitoring mechanism and block leakages of revenue from the Federation Account.
The Tide agrees with the RMAFC Chairman that a review of the emoluments for political office holders and judicial officers is long overdue and commends the commission for embarking on the exercise, seeing that the last time remuneration for public office holders was fixed by the commission was the one it did to take effect from February, 2007 to June 2009. However, even though the Chairman could not categorically state the direction of the review,we think that the emoluments should be scaled down.
While we concede that in the face of the spiraling inflation, N28 million cumulative annual take home for the President of the Federal Republic, N15 million for governors; N20 million for the Chief Justice of the Federation; N20 million; N18 million for the Senate President; N7 million for the Chairman of a local government council; and N6 million for a councillor may not be fantastic remunerations, they are too much of a burden in the face of the distressed economic circumstances of the nation. In addition, it is manifesting obviously that what is officially stipulated by the RMAFC is not all that accrues to the political office holders.
There are indeed impeccable indications that political office holders in particular take home far more than what is gazetted. For example, it is an open secret that the average Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria hauls home more than 14 million naira per month while Nigerians still do not have an idea of how much it costs them to maintain a Minister of the Federal Republic. Governors and chairmen of local government areas appear to have the treasures of the states and local councils at their mercy.
It is paradoxical that while the political office holders seemingly have several ways and means of drawing from the public till, civil servants and the mass of Nigerians are regularly fed with sorrowful tales of harsh economic realities and why the average worker cannot be paid N30,000 minimum wage. The rumour mills are already spinning government’s intention to either effect a pay cut of some category of public servants or a downsizing of the workforce.
It is stating the obvious that the Nigerian economy is in dire straits and requires all the measures necessary to save it from total collapse. While we do not believe that one of such measures should include either retrenching of workers or a slash of the miserable minimum wage of just N30,000, we are confident that a drastic reduction in the number of political office holders will save more than enough funds that will keep the economy above water.
As part of the mandate of the RMAFC, the commission should advise and prevail on government at all levels to reduce the cost of governance by limiting the number of political appointees and merging some ministries, departments and agencies of government with similar identical functions in keeping with the Orosanye’s panel report. The commission should make the executive arm of government from the federal through to the local councils see the need for fiscal discipline and financial prudence in the management of government affairs.
The president, governors and local government chairmen must be made to realise the haemorrhage they cause the public treasury when they appoint endless number of political aides with many of them performing the same function while most practically do next to nothing but are paid handsomely from the public coffers. The practice of indiscriminate appointment of a litany of Special Assistants, Senior Special Assistants, Special Advisers, Senior Special Advisers and the likes must stop. The days when governors engaged hundreds of aides as Special Advisers or Assistants must be over.
RMAFC must also give adequate consideration to the President’s charge to think up creative ways of expanding the revenue base of the Federation Account. More than ever before, the rampaging Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the fragility and unsustainability of the Nigerian economy relying on a monoproduct that is not just exhaustible but also susceptible to a highly volatile international market. Other sources of revenue including the solid mineral sector, tourism, agriculture, communication technology and digital economy, etc must be fully explored and exploited for the benefit of the country.
The commission also needs to be courageous in confronting the Federal Government with the reality that the prevailing revenue sharing formular that leaves 52% in the hands of the Central administration and the rest to be distributed among the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory and the 774 local government areas can no longer be sustained.A review in that direction should also be considered and effected so that the sub-national government or administrations can have more funds to undertake more responsibilities that will cater to the needs of the Nigerian people.
As Nigerians await the outcome of the latest review of the emoluments for political office holders and judicial officers by the RMAPC by the end of this year, the expectation is that the outcome will be one that will work for the people and not just a privileged few. Care must be taken to ensure that a revenue sharing formular and remuneration package for political office holders that will make political offices less lucrative and attractive in terms of financial returns is delivered. Of course, this is one sure way of reducing the fierceness of political contestation in the country and to guarantee the enthronement of service-oriented political leaders in our nations.