The Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has explained why it recommended that public office holders’, President Tinubu and his vice basic salaries be increased by 114%.
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Hassan Mohammed Usman, a federal commissioner of the RMAFC, stated that the remuneration review had been due since 2007, but had not been completed for various reasons.
Usman stated this in an interview with Arise Television on Thursday.
Video: Why we recommended 114% salary increase for political office holders – RMAFC
The Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has explained why the commission reviewed the basic salary of public office holders by 114 per cent increase.
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“This is to say that salaries for political, judicial, and public office holders have not been reviewed for 15 years,” he said.
According to Usman, the review was based on the fact that the consumer price index increased scientifically by 371 percent from 2008 to 2022.
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“We engaged in public hearings, we went to all geopolitical zones, we had consultations with stakeholders, the government, and the private sector, hearing and harnessing views on what increment within these years,” said the RMAFC federal commissioner.
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“These indices, the subjective public hearing and the scientific one, the consumer price index, were combined, aggregated, and it ran up to more than 200 percent.”
“So, based on that, the view of the country’s economic situation, we aggregated the two and arrived at 114%,” he explained.
Remember that the commission had urged the Houses of Assembly of the 36 states to expedite efforts to amend relevant laws to allow for upward review of remuneration packages for political, judicial, and public officers.
The RMAFC Chairman, Muhammadu Shehu, made the call on Tuesday in Birnin Kebbi, represented by a federal commissioner, Rakiya Tanko-Ayuba, during the presentation of reports on the reviewed remuneration package to Kebbi State Governor, Dr Nasir Idris.
He stated that the implementation of the reviewed remuneration packages would begin on January 1, 2023, and that the move was in accordance with the provision of paragraph 32(d) of part 1 of the Third Schedule of the federal government’s 1999 constitution (as amended).
He stated that the most recent remuneration review took place in 2007, culminating in the “certain political, public, and judicial office holders (salaries and allowances, etc) (Amendment) Act, 2008.”
“It empowers the revenue mobilisation, allocation, and fiscal commission to determine the remuneration appropriate for political office holders, including the president, vice-president, governors, deputy governors, ministers, commissioners, special advisers, legislators, and holders of the offices mentioned in sections 84 and 124 of the federal government’s constitution,” Shehu said.
“It is imperative that the remuneration packages for the categories of office holders mentioned in relevant sections of the 1999 constitution (as amended) be reviewed sixteen years after the last review.”
“In light of the foregoing, your Excellency may please recall that on Wednesday, 1st February 2023, the commission held a one-day zonal public hearing on the review of the remuneration package in all six (6) geopolitical zones of the country.” The exercise’s goal was to collect input/ideas from a wide range of stakeholders.”
He stated that the commission reviewed the salary packages in the reports objectively and subjectively, and that it follows the rules of equity and fairness, risk and responsibilities, and national order of precedence, among others.
