Following a report by The Economist
magazine that Nigerian federal legislators were the highest paid in the
world with a basic salary of $189,500 per annum (N30.6m), there has been
outrage that the lawmakers are earning so much whereas the workers are
getting poorer. Experts have called for protests to force down the
outrageous remuneration.
The bickering over the federal
legislators’ basic salary of N30.6m per annum, the highest in the world,
first came up in 2010 when renowned lawyer, Prof. Itsey Sagay, raised
the alarm about the high salaries in July, 2010 in a lecture in Lagos
entitled, ‘Legislating for the common good: Contemporary issues and
perspectives’. In retrospect, Sagay had said a senator earned N240m
($1.7m) in salaries and allowances while his House of representative
counterpart earned about N204m ($1.45m) per annum.
A subsequent lawsuit filed by human rights activist, Mr. Femi Falana, was thrown out of court for lack of locus standi.
However, three years after, The
Economist magazine revived the controversy as it calculated Nigerian
lawmakers’ basic salary as a ratio of the country’s per capita income
and compared it with other countries to arrive at the conclusion that
legislators’ jumbo pay partly accounts for the nation’s high recurrent
expenditure.
Ironically, before the N18,000
increment, Nigeria’s minimum wage of N7,500 was one of the lowest in the
world. The tragic situation created by such salary disparity, where
legislators serve their own interest rather than the public good,
critics say, endangers the stability of the country’s democracy. Labour
experts argued that the huge salaries of the lawmakers were clearly
unsustainable and the anomaly of paying themselves such emoluments was
seriously endangering the country’s democracy as more people move down
the poverty line due to poor salary.
A labour activist, Mr. Lawal Adedokun, said Nigerians should rise up and force the lawmakers to make public their salaries.
He said, “Why have they been playing cat
and mouse about their wages. This is a sign that we are not a serious
nation; no serious nation pays such amount to its lawmakers. In US and
other advanced countries, the salaries of lawmakers are there for people
to see but the reverse is the case in Nigeria. I want to call on
Nigerians to protest this anomaly.
“Poverty is doing people more harm than
ever and our lawmakers are busy enriching themselves at the expense of
the populace. Let’s look at the minimum wage, what can N18,000 do in
this present economic circumstances? But our lawmakers prefer to review
their own salary, which is already on the high side.”
In his reaction, the Managing Director,
Sotice Investment Company Limited, Mr. Adedayo Toluwase, said, “In all
fairness, the country’s minimum wage is on the low side. There’s nothing
one will do in the present day Nigeria with N18, 000. However, we
should also realise that is just the minimum wage and not the average
wage.”
On the lawmakers’ salary, Toluwase urged politicians to clarify the issue.
He said, “I see no reason why the
lawmakers are silent about the issue. If truly they are not earning as
high as that, they should come out with facts and explain to Nigerians.”
Quoting data from the International
Monetary Fund and The Economist magazine of London, the study looked at
the lawmakers’ basic salary as a ratio of the Gross Domestic Product per
person across countries of the world.
According to the report, the basic
salary (which excludes allowances) of a Nigerian lawmaker is 116 times
the country’s GDP per person of $1,600.
The $189,500 earned annually by each
Nigerian legislator is estimated to be 52 per cent higher than what
Kenya legislators, who are the second highest paid lawmakers, earned.
Meanwhile, there are plans by the Senate to remove the Minimum Wage Law from the Exclusive List.
The move, the Nigerian Labour Congress
said, was inimical to the well-being of the weak and economically
disadvantaged persons in the country.
The NLC President, Mr. Abdulwahed Omar,
who stated this in a statement on Sunday, added that the initiative had
serious implications for national security, productivity and well-being
of the low-income earners.
He noted that if given the opportunity
to fix their respective minimum wages, state governments would not
hesitate to pay minimum wages as low as N1,000 to their workers in spite
of the huge resources available to them.
He said “The Nigeria Labour Congress
notes with concern efforts by the Senate to remove the national Minimum
Wage Law from the Exclusive List in defiance of reason, popular opinion
and protection of the interest of the weak and the vulnerable.
“The removal will unnecessarily expose
Nigerian workers, especially, those in the low-income bracket, with
grave implications for security, productivity and national well-being,
as most state governments, if given the latitude, will pay wages as low
as N1,000 per month in spite of the relatively enormous resources
available to them.
“This fear is justified or underscored
by the reluctance or refusal of some of them to implement the N18,000
Minimum Wage Law. Even for some of them that implemented the law, it
took a heroic struggle.”
Also, the jumbo salary attracted sharp
criticism and outrage from Nigerians across the country, including
economists and lawyers.
An Associate Professor of Economics at
the Ekiti State University, Dr. Abel Awe, said the lawmakers’ jumbo
salary was indicative of the huge gap between the poor and the rich as
well as between the ruler and the ruled.
He said it was unfortunate that the country was running the costliest democracy in the world.
Awe said, “This is part of the reason
why 70 per cent of the nation’s budget is allocated to re-current
expenditure. We are using a huge chunk of the nation’s resources to
service just less than 1,000 people in a country of over 160 million
people.”
An economist, Mr. Henry Boyo, said the study had shown clearly that the cost of governance in Nigeria was very high.
Boyo, who noted that the cost of
governance was predicated on the provisions of the Constitution, said it
was high time Nigerians cried against the bloated cost of governance.
He said, “Our legislators’ actions or
salaries are actually accommodated by the Constitution. In the past, we
had less money and we had enough as a country. People are asking for a
change of Constitution.
“It is unfortunate that it is the people
who will do it that are the ones in charge. The legislators will not
vote against themselves.”
The Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association,
Ikeja branch, Mr. Monday Ubani, said the legislators had created “a big
hole” in the nation’s treasury.
Ubani, who scored the legislators low on
output, said they had failed to justify their fat pays, adding that
their submissions in both legislative chambers “are at variance with
that of sovereign Nigerians.”
Similarly, human rights lawyer, Mr.
Bamidele Aturu, lamented the wide disparity between the earnings of the
citizens and their legislators, who, according to him, are the idlest,
yet earn the most in the world.
He said what was obtainable in Nigeria
was a parody of democracy whereby the ruling class earned well but
preferred to subject the issue of N18,000 minimum wage to debate.
Aturu said, “Can you imagine there is
still a raging and scandalous debate among some governors on whether or
not to pay N18,000 minimum wage? Yet we are in a nation where the idlest
legislators are being paid the highest in the world.”
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Nigeria must stop this outrageous legislator salary NOW!
ReplyDeleteHonestly this has been long time coming, it should be stopped now.
Shame!shame!shame! What a county! A failed system, greedy people! Well this are endtime signs so no hope for a change. As simple as it is,if u gys don't earn as stated, declare what u earn publicly! But they will never do that cz that's actually what they earn and no matter what we say or write this guys will never make a sacrifice on our behalf,they already had children in some of the most expensive university in the world, how would they pay the tuition?
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ReplyDeletewho will stop them if not you? do you expect the lawmakers who are the beneficiaries to cut short their entitlements called salaries? then you must be dreaming. Until you rise up and stop murmuring in comments like this, Nigeria would continue to remain like this or even worse as the years go by.
ReplyDelete