Nigerians are insisting that the salaries and allowances of the members of the National Assembly are outrageous and cannot be sustained by the nation’s ailing economy. They call for a downward review of the package. LEKE SALAUDEEN examines the effect of the legislators, pay on the economy and suggests ways to reduce the cost of governance.

The recent call by Senator Rochas Okorocha, the immediate past governor of Imo State, for a drastic reduction in the number of legislators in the National Assembly is in line with the current campaign that the Federal Government should reduce the cost of governance. Okorocha, who represents Imo West at the Red Chamber, lamented that the cost of running the National Assembly is outrageous. He called for the reduction of senators from each state to one and members of the House of Representatives to three, so as to save cost.

Before Okorocha’s proposition, eminent Nigerians, including leaders of thought, former presidents, former governors, intellectuals and top government officials, have had occasions to express concern over the country’s cost of governance. They have examined the profligacy in governance, especially the long list of National Assembly members and their jumbo pay.

It has been widely reported that Nigerian lawmakers are the most highly paid in the world. This was later confirmed by Senator Shehu Sani who disclosed that a Nigerian senator earns a monthly salary of N750,000 and N13.5, and a monthly allowance of N13.5 million; making a total package of N14.25 million per month. At the current black market rate of N360 to a dollar, a senator earns about $40,000 per month and $480,000 per year. In comparison, a senator or a representative in the United States of America earns a salary of $174,000 per annum.

The controversy that Sani’s disclosure generated only lasted a short while. But, the clear absurdity surrounding the monetary compensations subsists. Since it has gone unaddressed, the lawmakers continue to live ostentatious life at the expense of majority of citizens who are wallowing in abject poverty.

Analysts say the resources at the disposal of a US Congressman are closely governed by law and regulation, while a member of Nigeria’s National Assembly is free to spend his allowances the way he likes. They regret that not only is parliamentary compensation massive in Nigeria, compared to the overall wealth of the country, but it is largely unregulated and subject to abuse.

A political scientist, Professor Bayo Okunade, agreed that the cost of running the National Assembly is huge and must be drastically reduced. He said it was the humongous allowances paid the legislators that triggered the debate on the number of representation.

Okunade, a lecturer at the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State, said appropriate representation has been a source of concern to Nigerians since independence and was one of the critical issues during the “Great Debate” that led to the 1979 Constitution. But the current suggestions were borne out of perceived high cost of governance viz-a-viz the activities in the National Assembly.

He said: “There is the thinking and it is real that the cost of running the National Assembly is huge, because of the humongous allowances for members. To me, none — reduction of members or resort to unicameral — is an option. Nothing says the cost of maintaining them should be as high, possibly, the highest even if compared to the greatest democracies in the world. We made the cost of governance and especially that of National Assembly to be so.

“It is in this light that the call by Nigerians to reduce cost of administration is in order. Thank God this is one of the issues on the President’s agenda. Instead of the two options, a better approach is to reduce costs of running governance generally. This can come in many ways – reduce allowances, reduce cost and allowances for oversight, reduction in number of legislative aides and effective regulatory regimes.”

Another lecturer, Dr Tunji Ogunyemi, believes Okorocha’s suggestion is in order. Ogunyemi, a lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, said there is an urgent need to reduce the number of legislators at the National Assembly, which has 109 members at the upper chamber and 360 in the House of Representatives.

He said: “I strongly believe that Nigeria cannot afford the financial costs of its current presidential system. The structure is too unwieldy and counter-productive. I would suggest that the National Assembly should have only one chamber of not more than 240 members. The Senate should be collapsed into the House of Representatives, but with each state still being represented by the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of their respective House of Assembly. These will be the only senators we should have, but they should sit in the same chamber with their lower house counterparts.

“Even beyond this, the number of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) should be pruned. The Executive arm of government is equally being run at a high cost. There is virtually a ministry for every conceivable issue of development in Nigeria. This is wrong. I think there should not be more than 12 ministries: Education, Science and Technology; Health and Social Services; Foreign Affairs and the Diaspora; Justice Law and Order; Agriculture; Labour and Employment; Public Works; Finance; Budget and Planning; Transport; Mineral Resources; Defence; Environment and Humanitarian Affairs; and Information and Communication.”

Ogunyemi also suggested that there should be an alteration of Section 147 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), to limit the powers of the President to establish MDAs at will. He said: “At present, the President can establish any ministry of his fancy. And, sub-section (3) of the same section makes it mandatory for him to appoint “at least one minister from each state” of the federation. Nothing can be more subversive of the financial health of the country, I think Section 147 of the constitution should be amended to limit the number of ministers and ministries.”

The lecturer added: “Though Senator Okorocha may, going by his antecedents as the immediate past governor of Imo State, lack the moral pedestal to make such a recommendation, but you cannot fault the logic of his thesis. For me, I would rather look at the content of his message, rather than he as the messenger. On this point, the Owelle is right.”

The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, once lamented the high cost of governance in the country. He said: “At the moment, 70 per cent of the Federal Government’s revenue goes for payment of salaries and entitlements of civil servants, leaving 30 per cent for the development of 180 million Nigerians. That means that for every naira government earns, 70 kobo is consumed by the civil servants.”

Sanusi, a former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), also called for a review of the salaries of members of the National Assembly, as well as ministers by half, with a view to creating more jobs for the unemployed youths. He argued that if the salary of each member of the National Assembly was divided into two, it would go a long way to providing more jobs for 70,400 jobless Nigerians at between N90,000 and N92,500 monthly salary.

He said: “Change should start with the National Assembly. A senator receives N36 million monthly. If this is divided into two, it comes to N18 million. The second half of N18 million can be used to create jobs for 200 Nigerians earning N90, 000 monthly. When you multiply 200 people by 109 senators, this will give 21, 800 gainful employments. In short, 200 Nigerians will be able to live a comfortable life on half a senator’s monthly salary.

Further highlighting the disparity in the standard of living of public office holders, particularly the legislators, Sanusi argued that a member of the House of Representatives receives N25 million monthly. He said: “Half of that amount is N12.5 million which is enough to employ 135 Nigerians with a monthly salary of N92, 500 each. Nigeria has 360 members in the House of Representatives. Half of their salaries can employ 48,600 Nigerians who can live comfortably.”

While urging political office holders to make sacrifices and salvage the country from its current economic downturn, the emir urged President Muhammadu Buhari to reduce the salaries of the lawmakers by half. He said the remaining half is more than enough for them in a country where majority of Nigerians live on less than a dollar per day.

On his part, Professor Anya O. Anya said as a result of high cost of governance, the Federal Government has embarked on borrowing to maintain its vast bureaucracy. This, according to him, requires huge billions of naira debt-servicing cost every year. The pioneer Director-General of Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESR), said this is no way to run a country, or any economic enterprise for that matter. If anything, it is a prescription for financial disaster and national bankruptcy. The federal and state governments must jointly address the critical problem of overblown bureaucracy at the three tiers of government, and the vastly increased cost of running such a huge bureaucracy on which they are spending up to 80 per cent of their total resources.

Anya said: “The practical result of this huge cost of governance is that only an average of 20 per cent of the nation’s total financial resources is spent on capital projects. The capital projects are, thus, poorly funded. In most cases, they are abandoned, or uncompleted due to paucity of funds. This is a prescription for the sustained underperformance of the economy. The situation calls for a comprehensive staff audit and job evaluation to determine the right size for the federal civil service without any adverse effect on efficiency in the service. There is a broad consensus across the nation that the size and cost of civil service is unsustainable and that it should be drastically reduced because it represents a major constraint on the nation’s economic growth and development.”

He added: “The fat pay and allowances of federal legislators should be reviewed downwards by at least 60 per cent; that the 1999 Constitution must be amended to reduce the size of the federal cabinet to not more than 18 ministers, to be appointed from the six geopolitical zones of the country. Also the number of special advisers and special assistants serving in the government must be drastically reduced to a manageable level, while there should be a merger of MDAs, to reflect the reduction in the number of ministries to 18.

“As part of the cost cutting measures, the country should retain bicameral legislature but reduce the number of Representatives by half and the senators to two per state. It is time to make necessary amendments to the Constitution to save Nigeria from eventual financial disaster and possible national bankruptcy.”

Governor Kayode Fayemi also called for the scrapping of the Senate. He said given the current economic realities, the type of legislative system that would really work for the country is a unicameral legislature.