Alarmed by the huge emoluments of members of the National Assembly, Nigerians and analysts have asked the lawmakers to show proof of how they spend the money, listing projects executed under the constituency fund.
Also worried about the disparity between the lawmakers’ emoluments and those of voters who live on less than $2 (N314) a day, they want members of both the upper and lower chambers of the National Assembly to take a pay cut to reflect the belt tightening measures of government.
President Goodluck Jonathan, during the fuel subsidy removal protests in January this year, announced a 25 per cent cut on political appointees’ basic salaries and since then, Nigerians, though not impressed by the meager cut, have been calling on the lawmakers, to at least emulate the executive and take a pay cut.
They also want to know how those often absent legislators account for the huge pay they collect every month, when they skip sittings.
“Part of my problem when the issue of jumbo pay of our lawmakers comes up for discussion, is who moderates them? Who punishes them when they don’t come to work and where are the much-talked-about constituency projects,” asked a diplomat who spoke with BusinessDay at the weekend.
Though the constitution of the country stipulates that members of the National Assembly must sit for a minimum of 181 days, Nigerians are saying the federal lawmakers should sit for more days, like any other Nigerian worker ,considering their fat pay packets.
Section 63 says: “The Senate and the House of Representatives shall each sit for a period of not less than one hundred and eighty-one days in a year”.
From the sitting schedule of the House of Representatives, for this legislative year, members would sit for 196 days, while the Senate would sit for 195 days, with 73 days and 68 days for holidays, for the House of Representatives and Senate respectively.
For the remaining legislative months for the year which ends on June 7th 2012, the House of Representatives has 99 days of legislative work and seven days break, while the Senate would sit for 99 days and seven days break.
Both chambers would proceed on their long break of end of legislative year, from June 7th to August 2012.
Anytime the National Assembly is in session, both chambers sit between Tuesdays and Thursdays but standing committees of both chambers can meet on any day, including Mondays and Fridays and sometimes weekends.
Ita Enang, chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business, however told BusinessDay that the stipulation of the constitution was a minimum of 181 days, but insisted that 181 sitting days were enough working days for the lawmakers.
He said: “181 days are sufficient days for sitting but when you add the days we sit for committee meetings and oversight functions, we spend up to 300 days. Do not also forget that we consult with our constituents and that is why we have constituency offices”.
Enang, from Akwa Ibom and who crossed over from the House of Representatives after two terms, also explained that legislators don’t have time to even celebrate Christmas and other festivities saying “We are occupied all year round, like any other Nigerian”.
Francis Olajide, president /chairman of council, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) said: “If a country as wealthy as Singapore could announce a hefty 40 percent pay cut for its high earning prime minister and ministers, why should a country like ours which is embroiled in a whole lot of financial upheaval, continue with its reckless allocation of salaries and allowances to its legislators and executives.
Olajide further said the executive and legislative could easily solve the present economic quandary by taking sincere steps targeted at reviewing the cost of governance, adding that this could be done by cutting down on the basic salaries of political office holders, as well as revisiting the KPMG audit report on subsidy, and implementing the recommendations of the firm for the ultimate economic survival of the nation.
Samir Giado, chief strategist, Emerging Markets, Standard Bank London, asserts that salary cut is no doubt the way to go.
He said: “Consolidating public finances is absolutely critical to prevent macroeconomic shocks in the medium-to-long term. On the upside, the 2012 budget draft freezes recurrent expenditure at N2.43trillion from N2.47 trillion in 2011 to N2.4 trillion, while capex spending will rise to N1.32trillion, from N1.15trillion. Besides, total expenditure will only increase 5.9percent year on year to N4.75trillion, which represents a decline in real (inflation-adjusted) terms. Obviously, this assumes the budget is passed as initially proposed, although this has consistently been an issue in recent years.
“The drop in the implied deficit is a favourable trend, but it overlooks the full fiscal picture, especially the position of the states and above-the-line expenditure.
Also, fiscal savings are critically low, at less than 2% of GDP vs. a median of 67 percent among oil exporting countries. This makes urgent the effective launch of the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), an end to the continued monetisation of Excess Crude Account funds and the accumulation of extra proceeds previously spent on the fuel subsidy.”
”Bismarck Rewane, renowned economist and CEO of Financial Derivatives Company stated in a recent interview, “you have to have an administration that has the credibility and belief of the people, therefore cutting down on the Cost of Governance across the board, especially in the National assembly, will buy you that credibility”
