More than 1,500 concerned
Nigerians, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), BudgIT and
Enough is Enough Nigeria (EiE) have filed a lawsuit asking the Federal High
Court to restrain, prevent and stop the National Assembly Service Commission
from paying the incoming members of the 9th National Assembly individually
and/or collectively over N4.68 billion as ‘welcome package’.
SERAP, BudgIT and EiE, suing for
themselves and on behalf of 1,522 concerned Nigerians, stated that: “The
Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has failed to do
any downward review of salaries and allowances of members of the National
Assembly since 2007 in spite of the economic downturn in Nigeria. Yet, the
commission is statutorily required to review the pay of the lawmakers, in
conformity with the country’s economic realities and to achieve fiscal
efficiency.”
In the suit number
FHC/L/CS/943/2019 filed before the Federal High Court in Lagos, the plaintiffs
argued: “Given many years of extreme poverty in the country, and the inability
of several state governments to pay salaries of workers and pensions, the
refusal or failure of the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal
Commission to review and cut the salaries and allowances of members of the
National Assembly is a gross violation of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as
amended) and the commission’s own Act.”
Joined as defendants in the suit
are the Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, National
Assembly Service Commission and Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal
Commission (RMAFC).
The plaintiffs also argued that:
“The duty of the RMAFC to review the salaries and allowances of members of the
National Assembly is mandatory and the Commission cannot choose not to comply.
Therefore, the failure or refusal by the Commission to comply with its own Act
amounts to arbitrariness.
The suit reads in part: “Unless
the reliefs sought by the plaintiffs are granted, the defendants and members of
the National Assembly will continue to benefit from these outrageous salaries
and allowances, in breach of the law and at the expense of millions of
Nigerians living in extreme poverty.
“The amounts budgeted as payment
for furniture and accommodation allowance to members of the 9th National
Assembly negates the oath of office under the Seventh Schedule of the 1999
Constitution by members to perform their functions in the interest of the
well-being and prosperity of Nigeria.
“The National Assembly comprises
of 469 members – with 109 in the Senate and 360 in the House of
Representatives. These public officers form a very tiny percentage of about 200
million Nigerians. Members are still eligible to collect huge sums of money as
monthly allowances and severance pay at the end of their respective terms.
“The RMAFC is required to advise
the Federal, State and Local Governments on fiscal efficiency and methods by
which their revenue is to be increased. Prescribing N9,926,062.5 and
N10,132,000:00 to members of the House of Representatives and Senate
respectively, as furniture and accommodation allowance, is not in tandem with
the Commission’s statutory mandate and advisory roles on fiscal efficiency.
“The action of members of the
National Assembly in ‘rubber-stamping’ the passage of the Certain Political,
Public and Judicial Office Holders [Salaries and Allowances] [Amendments] Act
2008 is also in clear breach of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers,
particularly paragraph 1 of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers which
provides that ‘a public officer shall not put himself in a position where his
personal interest conflicts with his duties and responsibilities’.
“It can be inferred that in
passing the Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders [Salaries and
Allowances] [Amendments] Act 2008, members of the National Assembly more or
less appropriated these payments as allowance to themselves, thereby bringing
about conflict of their personal interests with national interest of fiscal
efficiency, a conflict eventually resolved in favour of personal interest.”
No date has been fixed for the
hearing of the suit.
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