#OccupyNASS, #OccupyRMAFC or #OccupyBoth

Section 70 of the 1999 Constitution states that "A member of the Senate or the House of Representative shall receive such salary and other allowances as Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission determine"

Section 84(1) states that "There shall be paid to the holders of the offices mentioned in this section such as remuneration, salaries and allowances as may be prescribed by the National Assembly, but not exceeding the amount as shall have been determined by RMAFC". The Constitution goes further to mention the holders of such offices in Section 84(4) as the Executives, Judiciary, Chairmen and members of Executive bodies like Code of Conduct Bureau, Nigerian Police, INEC, RMAFC etc. Note that the Legislature is excluded from the list.

The import is that, constitutionally the remuneration, salaries and allowances of the Executive, Judiciary and the F.C.T area councils Executives have to be enacted into law by the National Assembly before it becomes effective. According to Section 84(1) the National Assembly has no powers to review upwards such remuneration, salaries and allowances package as determined by RMAFC for the Section 84(4) list. Though the Constitution gives the National Assembly powers to prescribe payment packages for these offices, but only gave them powers to prescribe an emolument package lower than the package determined by Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission. 

However, it is important to also note that according to Section 70, RMAFC has the sole responsibility to determine the remuneration and allowances of the Legislature. The remuneration, salaries and allowances determined by the Commission is sacrosanct and does not require passage into law. Meaning no Senator or Member has any right to review their packages and allowances except RMAFC.

Highlighted in red is an excerpt lifted from Fiscal Monitor / Vol 1,No 1,Jan - March 2013 / page 26, a quarterly publication of Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission.

Office Annual Basic Salary (N) Total Annual Emolument (N) Monthly Total Emolument  President: 3,514,705.00 - 14,058,820.00 - 1,171,568.33, Vice-President 3,051,572.50 - 12,126,290.00 - 1,010,524.17 Senate President: 2,484,240.50 - 8,694,848.75 - 724,570.73 Deputy Senate President: 2,309,166.75 - 8,082,083.63 - 673,506.97 Senator: 2,026,400.00 - 12,766,320.00 - 1,06,860.00 Speaker: 2,477,110.00 - 4,954,200.00 - 412,851.67 Deputy Speaker: 2,287,034.25 - 4,574,068.50 - 381,172.38 Member: 1,985,212.50 - 9,529,020.00 - 794,085.00 Note: (i). Total Annual Emolument excludes non-regular allowances such as Severance Gratuity, Accommodation, Furniture, Leave, Car Loan which are paid in bloc once in the year or four years as may be applicable.(ii). Some allowances of certain category of Public Officers such as President, Vice-President, Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Reps are being provided in kind  

Do not only look at what the RMAFC has done in the above excerpt, but also look at what they have deliberately not done. They have not published what the total annual emoluments exclude; they have also not published how they make provisions in "KIND" for the Presiding Officers.

Kindly allow me draw your attention to paragraph 32(c) of Part I of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which gave RMAFC the statutory powers to "Advise the Governments on fiscal efficiency and methods by which their revenue can increase". One would think that RMAFC should have advised the Government on reducing these huge unpublished allowances or suspending it. In any bleeding situation, the most important thing to do is to stop the bleeding on the spot before looking for medical care. In the history of medical science, first aid has saved many lives because it is an initial intervention and the most crucial intervention that prevents any condition from worsening. As a bleeding Nation we've been busy looking blood transfusion, without making any attempt to stop the bleeding. Fortunately, we have identified RMAFC as the paramedic that can stop our economic bleeding.

I have a few questions here that all civil society organizations, activists, and the general public should be interested in.

1. Should we occupy NASS or RMAFC or occupy both?
2. Should we ask RMAFC to publish only the National Assembly allowances? What about Judiciary and the Executives?
3. Will it be fair to ask RMAFC to slash or suspend National Assembly allowances leaving out the Executives and the Judiciary? 
4. Should re-elected Senators and Members be paid housing allowance, car loan, wardrobe allowance and some certain allowances?
5. Why can't we just ask RMAFC to calculate our Legislators pay on pro-rata basis, rather than paying them on a monthly basis? why do we pay them while they are on recess?
6. Why can't we pay them on a part time basis as it is done in other jurisdictions? Since Section 63 says legislators shall seat for a period of not less than 181 days(6 months)
7. Can't we pay them per sitting? Pay them committee allowance for committee works? Pay them transportation allowance and per diem only when they travel on oversight functions? and leave it at that.
8. Who regulates the activities of RMAFC?

Before we decide to #OccupyAnywhere or advocate #OpenNASS, we should carefully ponder on these questions so that we can get it right this time.

Sources:

CONSTITUTION OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA 1999 CAP. C23 L.F.N 2004.

FISCAL MONITOR /Vol 1,No 1, January - March / Page 26.