Controversy has trailed media reports that the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has proposed a ‘114 percent increase’ in the basic salaries for public officeholders in Nigeria.
Development Diaries reports that the Chairman of the NMAFC, Muhammadu Shehu, who was represented by the commission’s commissioner from Kebbi State, Rakiya Tanko-Ayuba, on Tuesday, indicated that the commission had recommended an upward review of the basic salaries of political and judicial officeholders.
Many Nigerians, including civil society frontliners, have since taken to social media to condemn the salary increment consideration.
Dwindling revenue
In 2021, the budget office decried the rising cost of governance despite Nigeria’s dwindling revenue. The office revealed that the country was spending more than it generated to sustain civil servants and public officials.
According to the Debt Management Office (DMO), the cost of governance rose sharply from N3.61 trillion in 2015 to N5.26 trillion in 2018 and N7.91 trillion in 2020. Personnel costs alone accounted for 40 percent of recurrent spending in 2020; an indication that states use the better part of their allocations on recurrent expenditure.
Also, a 2021 report released by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) revealed that less than 30 percent of the federal government revenue was allocated to capital projects due to the expensive structure of governance in Nigeria.
Furthermore, BudgIT, in a 2022 Nigerian Sub-National Salary Survey, reported that 12 out of Nigeria’s 36 states owed their civil servants at least one-month salary as of 31 July, 2022.
The states were Abia, Imo, Cross River, Taraba, Adamawa, Plateau, Benue, Nasarawa, Ebonyi, Delta, Edo, Ondo and Kogi.
Citizens face hardship
Reacting to the proposed salary increase for public officers, many Nigerians berated President Bola Tinubu for urging them to sacrifice after ending fuel subsidy without provision of palliatives for citizens.
Already, transport fares in many parts of the country have skyrocketed, and prices of food are rising while more than half the country’s 200 million population, including millions of vulnerable Nigerians, are left in a world of uncertainty.
In fact, citizens are expected to pay more for electricity as the tariff is set to go up to as high as 40 percent from the start of July 2023.
Also, telecommunications operators have said they may be compelled to hike end-user tariffs in response to the implementation of the federal government’s economic policies, especially the implementation of the 7.5 percent Value Added Tax (VAT) on automotive gas oil (AGO) or diesel.
The RMAFC is empowered to determine the remuneration appropriate for political officeholders including the president, vice president, governor, deputy governors, ministers, commissioners, special advisors, legislators and the holders of the offices mentioned in Sections 84 and 124 of Nigeria’s Constitution.
However, a proposal for an upward review of the basic salaries of political and judicial officeholders must be approved by the president before it is implemented.
Development Diaries, therefore, calls on President Tinubu to reject such a provocative proposal from the RMAFC. The president should, instead, begin the process of reducing the cost of governance as he promised in his ‘Renewed Hope’ manifesto.
We also call on RMAFC to, on the contrary, recommend the downward review of the salaries of politicians and other public officeholders.
After all, the president has asked Nigerians to sacrifice ‘a little more for the survival’ of the country. Since politicians and other public officeholders are Nigerians, too, it is crucial to emphasise that the burden of sacrifice is shared by all Nigerians.
Photo source: Bola Ahmed Tinubu
