Back on the streets
The Nigerian youth marched
out to our legislative houses all around the country on Thursday the 26th
of September 2013.
On Twitter, they
mustered and gathered organised under the Twitter hashtag of #OurNASS where
Nigerians demanded accountability, transparency and better representation. [Al Jazeera]
The occupation of
elected political office had long shifted from the call to service to what was
self-serving interests exemplified by outrageous remunerations that make the
eyes water.
A salary to feast on
It is the long held
belief that our democracy is both profligate and extravagant, it is safe to
assume that the cost is unsustainable.
However, when the
people congregated at the National Assembly in Abuja, some senators braved the
crowds and came out to chat with the people where for the very first time a
senator presented his payslip detailing the
salary for one month paid in January 2010, in the previous electoral cycle as tabulated below:
Without considering
inflationary changes and reassessments up to 2013, this alone presents an
interesting reading on the percentages scale.
Multiples beyond belief
A senator will take
735% in allowances beyond his basic salary monthly with 200% going to housing
and 250% going to managing a constituency office.
If the Pay As You
Earn (PAYE) deductions total more than the basic salary, you then wonder if the
allowances are taxed too.
Besides this, the
vehicle loan is 400% of annual basic salary, but if a term is 4 years, how does
a senator pay off that loan without seeking extra funds over and above the
salary?
It would mean the legislator will would have either to meet that from the allowance pool or engage in other business activity to meet possible shortfalls, this remuneration structure is uneconomical and presents the framework for nefarious activity, possibly corruption.
Not sustainable
What does not show
in this salary payslip is the furniture allowance, which is 75% of annual
salary paid in a lump sum at the commencement of legislative tenure and 5% for
housing allowance.
We still need to
get a current figure representing what we pay our legislators but in percentage
terms with reference to the basic salary, it is unlikely as I have said before
that any private sector job rewards people this well, this democracy at this
rate and cost is unsustainable.
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