» FG To Slash Federal Lawmakers’ Salaries «

ABUJA—Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation,
Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC, Mr.
Elias Mbam, disclosed yesterday that the
Commission had started the process of trimming
down the pay packages of the President,
Senators, members of the House of
Representatives, governors and all the elected
public officials to reflect current economic realities.
Speaking with journalists after meeting President
Muhammadu Buhari, the RMAFC Chairman said
that no federal lawmaker received N1 million
monthly as salary, adding that their salaries
would be pruned down to reflect the current
economy status.
Asked whether the parliamentarians would give a
nod to the idea, the Chairman said it was a
constitutional mandate, which no one should
argue about.
He said: “We are here to brief the President on the
activities of the commission, the challenges and
the way forward.
“The President advised us to ensure that we use
all legitimate means to ensure all public office
holders take home remuneration as determined
by the commission and also block all leakages.
“We have done a lot in informing the public on
the true position of the remuneration packages. It
is on our website; it is clearly written there and
we have published these remuneration packages
in many national dailies several times.
“We have also had interactions with the press at
different fora.
“What we read on the pages of newspapers is
not known to the commission because there is
no member of the National Assembly, based on
what we determined, who earns up to N1 million
per month.
“Presently, we are reviewing the subsisting
remuneration packages and it is going to reflect
the socio-economic realities of today. We expect
that before the end of next month, it will be
ready.
“When I talk of packages, the responsibility of the
commission is to determine the remuneration for
political office holders, both elected and
appointed, from the national level to the local
government level.
“Of course, National Assembly members are
elected. It will include them, it will include the
judiciary, it will include the state legislature,
executive and of course, the local government
will be included.
“Recently, the oil price dropped. Many
government agencies, the states and local
governments have not been able to pay their
salaries. These are some of the issues that made
it necessarily to review it. It did not start with this
administration; we started the review as far back
as last year. It is not because of the present
administration that we commenced it.
“They do not have a choice. We are guided by
the constitution and we are going to be guided by
such laws that are provided for in the constitution
and the oath they swore to obey the laws of the
country.”
Mbam, who recounted the challenges of the
Commission to include insufficient funding, urged
the authorities to amend the Act setting it up to
grant its financial independence.
Asked when the new revenue sharing formula
would be ready, the chairman said it was beyond
his power to comment on.
He said: “One of the challenges is that the
commission is not properly funded and we are
saying that we expect that the commission
should be one of the agencies of government that
should have financial autonomy.
“The best way to do that is to include it as one of
the agencies that will benefit from first line charge.
“The second is to give the commission the power
of enforcement. They should review the Act
establishing the commission so that it can have
power of enforcement and sanctions on any of
the defaulting MDAs.