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2015 is again around the corner beckoning to
Nigerian political players to keep warming up while the centre stage is
gradually being set. It is also poised
with its dangling, back-tearing, long sticks and irresistibly edible carrots to
unleash excruciating pains on its victims while feeding its beneficiaries fat
with carrots and gifts of cakes respectively. Unfortunately, the usual victims
of elections have consistently been the voiceless masses who form the greater
percentage of the total population of Nigeria. It has been sadly so for long.
One only wonders if it will continue being so. Flagrant insensitivities to the
plights of the governed and blatant misappropriation of huge funds that could have
been channelled towards more profitable ventures form the disdainful attributes
of most of our leaders here in Nigeria. Promises have become the necessary
complements of political rhetorics which sooner than later melt into thin air while
political cronies and cliques to those in power form the only beneficiaries of
dividends of democracy at the vast expense of the less privileged. What are the
gains of the electorates after seasons of theatrical elections other than
unemployment, poverty, terrorism, lack of basic amenities and non-payment of
retirees’ pension which often lead to untimely death of many who have sown
their sweats and fruitful years to the service of their fatherland among other
social anomalies?
It’s nothing but stupendous extravagance for a
Nigerian senator to be earning more salary than the President of the United States
and David Cameron of the United Kingdom. This leaves us to wonder how much the
Nigerian president goes home with at the end of each month. Yet, they travel to
these countries to buy common shoes and cutleries and pay whooping sums to
access their health services while plundering the only available resources for
the development of our common community health services.
A brief comparative analysis between the
salaries of our kingly demi-gods whom we call our leaders and their international
counterparts will clearly situate the damaging effects of such excessiveness.
An Indian lawmaker must work for at least forty-nine
years to earn the annual salary of a Nigerian senator. In the United States,
while the minimum wage is $1,257 (N191, 667), a US lawmaker earns $15,080
(N2.3m) per month. In the United Kingdom, a lawmaker earns $8,686(N1.3m)
monthly while the gross national minimum wage is $1,883 (N283, 333) per month. Going
even further, Nigerian lawmakers earn higher than their counterparts in Sweden.
With a monthly pay of $7,707 (N1.2m), a lawmaker in Sweden will need to work
for over twelve years to equal what a Nigerian senator earns per annum.
The president of the United States takes home
an annual salary of $400,000 (N64.156,0m), including a $50,000 expense
allowance making the president the highest paid public servant in the US. The
$400,000 includes everything and $350,000 out of it is taxable.
The following represents the salary per annum
of some international leaders:
The prime
minister of the United Kingdom……USD 226,627.00
French
president…………………………………..
USD 318,072.00
South
African president…………………………..USD 296,112.00
German Chancellor………………………………….USD 296,112.00
The Prime
Minister of Belgium…………………..USD 174,804.00
President
of the Republic of Korea……………..USD 136,669.00
President
of Russia…………………………………USD
122,652.00
Prime
Minister Portugal……………………………USD 129,730.00
Prime
Minister Namibia……………………………USD 115,155.00
President
of Angola………………………………..USD
60,000.00
President
Argentina………………………………..USD
55,139.00
Prime
Minister Ukraine…………………………….USD 61,254.00
President
Zimbabwe……………………………….USD
18,000.00
President of People’s republic of China………..USD 10,633.00
President
Liberia……………………………………USD
90,000.00
Prime
Minister Spain ……………………………..USD 102,960.00
Prime
Minister Namibia…………………………..USD 115,155.00
President
Namibia…………………………………USD
164,506.00
President
of Colombia …………………………..USD
120,685.00
Prime
Minister of the Netherlands……………..USD 190,740.00
Prime
Minister Ireland……………………………USD 264,000.00
Prime
Minister Denmark…………………………USD 264,533.00
President
Mexico………………………………….USD
328,839.00
USD
328,839.00 ………………………………….USD
427,886.00
President
Austria………………………………….USD
422,231.00
President
of the European Council…………….USD 508,916.00
The table below captures the breakdown of Nigerian
Senator’s Salary
Basic
Salary (BS) ……………......................N2,484,245.50
|
Hardship
Allowance: 50% of Basic Salary........N1,242,122.75
|
Constituency
allowance: 200% of BS……N4,968,509.00
|
Furniture
Allowance: 300% of BS………..N7,452,736.50
|
Newspaper
allowance: 50% ………………..N1,242,122.70
|
Wardrobe
allowance: 25% ………………….....N621,061.37
|
Recess
Allowance: 10% ………………………….N248,424.55
|
Accommodation:
200% ……………………N4,968,509.00
|
Utilities:
30% …………………………………….N828,081.83
|
Domestic
Staff: 35% ………………………………N863,184.12
|
Entertainment:
30% ……………………….......N828,081.83
|
Personal
Assistance: 25% …………………......N621,061.37
|
Vehicle
Maintenance Allowance: 75% ……N1,863,184.12
|
Leave Allowance
: 10% …………………..........N248,424.55
|
One off
payments (Severance gratuity): 300%.........N7,452,736.50
|
Motor Vehicle
Allowance: 400% of BS …N9,936,982.00
|
Total per
month ………………………….....N29, 479, 749.00
|
A senators annual salary = over N182 million
|
I need a
mathematician to help me multiply the minimum amount a Senator takes home per
annum by the 109 senators in the upper chamber while not forgetting the House
of representative members, ministers, ambassadors etc.
This is in addition to the regular and illegitimate
salaries and allowances of over N17 million ($113,333) and N14.99 million
($99,933) which senators and reps were collecting yearly plus the irregular
allowances of estacodes, duty tours etc, they were also collecting and over
N192m ($1.28m) and N140m ($0.93m) respectively in illicit quarterly allocation
which is not provided for by RMAFC.
Effectively, a Nigerian senator earns at least eight
times as much as an American senator and more than three whooping times the American
President.
It is obvious that a Federal Legislator in
Nigeria is paid more than double what a Member
of British Parliament earns per annum.
Senate President, David Mark alone takes N250 million
quarterly or N83.33
million per month. Senate Deputy
President, Ike Ekweremadu gets N150 million per
quarter or N50
million a month. Mark and Ekweremadu earns in 4 months, six times what
the UK Prime Minister earns in a year. David
Cameron goes home with £190,000 per anum (N43, 700,000)
In a newspaper article entitled ‘An Assembly for looting’ written by Musikilu Mojeed with
Elor Nkereuwem, the authors rightly claimed that each of the 360 members of the
House of Representatives were getting N35 million
in cash money in quarterly allocation while each of the 109 Senators pockets N48 million each. These allocations have
however been slashed by 20% to N27 million ($180,000) and N38 million
($253,333) respectively due to the 20% reduction requested by the late
president.
Let us also check out the
popular owners of oil blocs in the country and tell if the list will not
include political leaders, former political office holders, political
chieftains, political contractors and god-fathers just to mention a few.
It will also interest the public
to know that according to the Central Bank of Nigeria, a member of the national
assembly is paid an average of $80,000 per month,
representing 25 percent of the federal budget.
While the total federal government overhead budget is N536,
268, 49,280 and the total overhead of the National Assembly is N136,
259,768, 112.
It leaves very many us wondering
that if these wanton official looting and incessant depletion of our treasury
can't be curbed, then, an aged retiree may begin to see his grave much earlier than the appointed time; our youth will have to give up the thoughts of being employed, sheltered clothed and fed as a result of the devious stance of our leaders and their incorrigible propensity to plunder the existing resources of this country. Our resources have been commonly found to be at the cyclic disposal of the "fat cats" of this country who takes pleasure in seeing to the gruesome short-changing of the future of generations yet unborn as they keep setting dollars ablaze in the name of pleasures!
Fellow Nigerians, which side of
the coin do you embrace? What is your take on this as we gradually approach
2015?
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