RMAFC publishes salaries of lawmakers, ministers . Says any other allowances received are illegal The Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has published details of legitimate salaries and allowances of National Assembly members and ministers. In a public notice published in today’s edition of Daily Trust, signed by the commission’s acting secretary Usman I. Garndawa, RMAFC said it was providing the details “to avoid misinformation and misrepresentation of facts” in media reports. The figures for legislators are similar to those published by Daily Trust on July 22 with few exceptions where the figures now provided by RMAFC are higher. But the commission faulted the lumping of all salaries and allowances into yearly totals, saying some of the entitlements are “non-regular” and paid once in four years. According to the public notice by RMAFC, lawmakers’ allowances include accommodation (Senator N4m, Rep N3.97m), vehicle loan (Senator N8m, Rep N7.94m), furniture (Senator N6m, Rep N5.956m) and severance gratuity (Senator N6.09m, Rep N5.956m), which are due once in four years. Out of these figures, only the vehicle loan for members of the House of Representatives differs with what Daily Trust reported on July 22, which was N6.948m. While accommodation allowance is paid yearly, furniture, severance and car loan are paid once in four years, the commission said. Annual allowances are motor vehicle fuelling and maintenance (Senator N1.52m, Rep N1.489m), constituency (Senator N5m, Rep N1.985m), domestic staff (Senator N1.519m, Rep N1.488m), personal assistant (Senator N506,600; Rep N496,303), entertainment (Senator N607,920, Rep N595,563), recess (Senator N202,640; Rep N198,521), utilities (Senator N607,920; Rep N397,042), newspaper/periodicals (Senator N303,960; Rep N297,781), house maintenance (Senator N101,320; Rep N99,260) and wardrobe (Senator N506,600; Rep N496,303). Here, the difference with Daily Trust’s report is on member’s vehicle fuelling and maintenance (reported as N595,563), member’s constituency (reported as N1.687m), senator’s and member’s entertainment (reported as Senator N202,640, Rep N198,521) as well as wardrobe (reported as Senator N405,280; Rep N397,402). The Daily Trust’s July 22 report was quoting RMAFC’s documents dated February 2007. Apart from recess allowance, these are paid in monthly installments, RMAFC said. Other allowances are estacode (Senator $950, Rep $900) and duty tour allowance (Senator N37,000; Rep N35,000) payable “when applicable.” These figures are also higher than what Daily Trust reported on July 22. Explaining the modalities of paying the salaries and allowances, RMAFC said: “Regular allowances are paid regularly with basic salaries while non-regular allowances are paid as at when due. For instance, furniture allowance and severance gratuity are paid once in every tenure and vehicle allowance which is optional is a loan which the beneficiary has to pay before the end of tenure. It is therefore wrong and misleading to add up allowances irrespective of whether they are regular, refundable or non-regular as the regular annual emoluments of political public office holders.” But RMAFC warned that any other allowances received by the affected officials are illegal and the chief accounting officer should be held responsible. “The commission also wishes to use this opportunity to state that any other allowance(s) enjoyed by any political, public office holders outside those provided in the Remuneration Act of 2008 is not known to the commission and the chief accounting officer should be held accountable,” RMAFC’s notice added. The salaries and allowances for ministers and ministers of state now published by RMAFC are also similar to those contained in Daily Trust’s July 25 edition. (For full details, see page 16 of Abuja edition and page 14 of Kano/Maiduguri edition)
Posted on: Sat, 03 Aug 2013 13:13:07 +0000
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