Opinion
By Ifeanyichukwu Afuba
A call has been made for the salary and allowances of Nigeria’s political office holders to be tied to the earnings of civil servants and other career public officers as a means of breaking the elastic mode of emoluments received by political functionaries.
Political scientist and media practitioner, Mr IfeanyiChukwu Afuba, said “proportionate linkage” of politicians’ earnings with pay of other public sector workers was the way to sanitise the outrageous package enjoyed by political office holders.
In a statement, Afuba observed that the perquisites accruing to the political class must be defined and put in the national context.
“If we want to put a stop to what the political class, a tiny bit of the population award to themselves as entitlement from our collective wealth, we must insist on relativity. We should demand a legislation that specifies what is reasonable and fair as the entitlement of political officers. There should be a law that spells out that the salary of federal legislators cannot be more than 300 percent of the national minimum wage.”
“We can either use the minimum or the maximum wage standard of career public officers to calibrate the package for elected and appointed functionaries in government. When government gives car loan to workers, there’s an earning ratio that determines what is awarded. If that transparent process was in use in the recent allocation to national assembly members for vehicles, the grossly insensitive N160m vehicle grant to federal lawmakers would be inconceivable.”
Afuba, a political appointee in the Peter Obi and Willie Obiano administrations in Anambra State, lamented that the palace mentality had distorted the true values of democratic government in Nigeria, requiring urgent injection of the letters and spirit of public service.
“There are certain principles at the heart of this proposal. The first is to make clear that public office is not an avenue to make money. If you cannot take moderate pay as a minister or senator, then don’t bother coming to hold the office, venture into business or gambling. Secondly, national service is national service. It’s wrong to glorify any public office against another. All institutions are important. Therefore, reward system should be justly applied across board.”
“The salutary effect of an intervention of this nature in the public estate would be on one hand, a sense of service delivery in government, and on the other, a good deal for workers for the simple reason that if the political class desires comfortable salaries, it must first increase workers’ pay.”
Addressing the hurdles to achieving such a scenario, Afuba contended that the only way was by Nigerians putting pressure on political actors in Government to do what the citizens want.
“It’s simple or difficult depending on Nigerians. If Nigerians choose to be complacent, the ruling class will get away with what they want. But if Nigerians are insistent on sanitizing the governance process, the political establishment will have no choice but to comply with their demands. We’re seeing protests today against hunger and economic hardship. If the discontent become organised and focused on long – term objectives, the power centres will listen,” he concluded.
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-March 07, 2024 @ 09:32 GMT|
Tags: IfeanyiChukwu Afuba Mr IfeanyiChukwu Afuba
