I will prefer to think of it for now, as a ‘cool-temper’ goody bag because it did not register with me, I do not think it registered with the populace and I doubt it registered in the media.
I am talking about the Senate president Bukola Saraki, announcing the set up of a committee to review the salaries and allowances of Nigerian lawmakers.
One week after, that committee remains faceless and nameless. I want to believe he was ‘misquoted’ or I read wrongly that a committee has already been set up.
Do you know the committee’s terms of reference because I don’t-that is if the committee has already been set up and running.
I must concede Saraki played a master’s gambit, (similar to how he emerged as the Senate president) because with that singular announcement the opprobrium heaped on the lawmakers seems to dampen a bit since then.
But he must prove this time that the talk is not an empty posturing. As I wrote in an earlier column any sensible or educated legislative arm of government should make pronouncements that reflect the interest of the people once they get down to business in the chambers. Pronouncements and appropriations will be that which underpins the desire of the electorates. It should reflect largely the aspirations and expectations of the society. Utterances should be proactive not retroactive.
Still the people of the National Assembly have a huge obligation to the taxpayers. Saraki has come out as their prophet of the true path. But now he has to work out that moral route. He has to help them also define what a pay cut means. He has to let them know, since he has chosen to speak for all of them, that the money is also ‘our money’ and that the compensation story is not a story directed at carrying out their socio-economic functions as law makers.
He should also remind them that half, if not all of them are already millionaires if not billionaires and that a 50 percent pay cut (at least to align with their counterparts elsewhere) will be inconsequential and scarcely anything meaningful to what they already have amassed.
The lawmakers need of a new salary and allowances structure has been apparent for some time. Many of their past salary take were unconstitutional, unpopular and wasteful. The oil boom and money from which they drew inspiration for the honoraria and rent has bottomed out and it is about time a new value system is installed.
Truly, Nigeria is not the only country in the world where lawmakers prefer to ignore the politically risky task of having to raise their own pay wantonly and in every four years. The difference is that the other people worked out plans immediately, given the adverse backlash, to realign with the realities on ground.
I want to believe that the main focus of the ‘committee’ Saraki talked of is how to prepare a Bill spelling out structured compensation process, which will in turn be debated. It will be in the best interest of everyone if National Assembly members came out to explain to the electorate and constituents who sent them to the National Assembly why they deserve a pay raise. Make this mandatory in the Bill that should be debated. In this way nobody raises an eyebrow when any pay is announced.
Basically, there will be less hackle if a pay process that is not controversial, just transparent and aligned with some sense of ‘we-are-all-in-this-together’ is brought up for debate as the economy’s troubles persists. One big message this will send is that everyone is in the same boat discussing issues around income inequality and what is a fair deal for everyone.
Charles Ike-Okoh
