The Revenue Mobilization And Fiscal Commission(RMAFC) is established under Section 153(1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria(as amended). The RMAFC is one Nigeria’s fourteen Executive Bodies. Some of its cohorts are the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) and the Federal Character Commission(FCC). The RMAFC has seven salient statutory responsibilities. One of its functions is to determine the remuneration of public office holders by fixing salaries and benefits of political office holders. These include: the President, Vice President, Governors, Ministers, Commissioners and Special Advisers. Perhaps, one of the most pivotal roles of the RMAFC is to periodically assess and update the revenue sharing formula among the three tiers of government – federal, state and local government. This assessment and update are expected to reflect prevailing economic realities. They should also be carried out at least every five years. Thus, when the Chairman of RMAFC, Mohammed Shehu, recently disclosed that his Commission was contemplating a review of the salaries of political office holders, he was acting in tandem with the RMAFC’s mandate. The RMAFC Chairman told newsmen, among others, that: the President, Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu, currently earns N1.5 million per month; Ministers earn less than N1 million a month; and these figures have remained unchanged since 2008. Besides, the RMAFC Chairman argued:”You are paying the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria N1.5 million a month, with a population of over 200 million people. Everybody believes that it is a joke”. He further argued:” You cannot pay a Minister less than N1 million a month since 2008 and expect him to put in his best without necessarily being involved in some other things. You pay either a CBN governor or the D-G ten times more than you pay the President…” This sales pitch, made by the RMAFC Chairman, is both true and cogent. As at 2008, the Naira was sturdier and commanded greater value. It exchanged at N115 to the U.S. Dollar. Today, thanks to the withdrawal of fuel subsidy and the floating of the Naira, effected with fiat on the watch of President Tinubu, the Naira exchanges at 1,531 to the Dollar. Verily, given current realities, and considering how the Naira has plummeted to its depths, most folks are tempted to view the President’s salary as a joke, or in Nigerian parlance, as “chicken change”. But with due respect, the RMAFC Chairman seems to be glossing over the greater, if not most obscene and sickening joke, to wit: How much is the salary of a Nigerian Professor? How much is the salary of a Permanent Secretary? How much is the minimum wage? How much does a Pensioner, particularly one under the doggerel Contributory Fund, get at the end of the month? What is the financial disposition of our unemployed youth? While the salary of the President may appear paltry, the RMAFC Chairman has failed to regale us with the details of the appurtenances and perks which the President enjoys. Neither has he furnished us with the details of the sumptuous security vote available to him. Yes, the President’s salary may seem niggardly, in fact, far less than that being earned by other less-heeled officials. But that is the true nature of things. These officials, who earn more than the President, bring to the table certain expertise or technical abilities which the President does not possess. Others handle delicate and sensitive duties that demand that they be financially insulated. Which is why even in the most advanced countries, heads of intelligence agencies and Central Banks are paid and provided more than their heads of government. The RMAFC Chairman also conveniently ignores one crucially important fact: political office is meant for service to the people. It should therefore not be an avenue for self-aggrandizement or the acquisition of filthy lucre. Incidentally – and unfortunately – it is this propensity to construe public office as a way of feathering one’s nest that has led us to the sorry station we have found ourselves. We have arrived at an unsavory position where decent and right thinking members of the comity of nations view us, to use the RMAFC Chairman’s derisive word, as a “joke”. It is correct for the RMAFC Chairman to state, as he did that his Commission’s mandate and purview was limited to reviewing the salaries and allowances of political office holders. But anyone who is privileged to hold his exalted office ought to be savvy and sagacious enough to appreciate that political office holders do not exist in isolation. That a review, as contemplated by his esteemed Commission, ought to take a holistic and three sixty-degree view of the Nigerian environment. And that he ought to have taken heed to, or informed himself that such a review, done in these dire times, could trigger a crisis of its own. It could also put him and his Commission in public ridicule, if not odium. Like most Executive Bodies in Section 153 of our Constitution, the RMAFC is enjoined to be transparent and fair in its dealings. It is also expected to liaise with sister organizations and engage with critical stakeholders. Which other organizations has the RMAFC consulted before arriving at the need to review salaries and allowances upward. And which stakeholders did it engage? The RMAFC should perish its plan to effect this upward review unless, of course, it is merely flying a kite. It is not only insensitive and inequitable, it is an affront to other public officials who are hurting and who have not enjoyed the benefit of any review. What is good for the goose is, after all, also good for the gander.
