Today is May Day (Workers’ Day!). There is certainly no better day to reflect on the crisis of compensation between the “haves” who still cry from the roof tops and the “have nots” who watch in bewilderment. The recent star-words between my dear friend Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State and brother Hon. Yakubu Dogara, Speaker of the House of Representatives, over who earns what further dramatizes the crisis of compensation in an increasingly unequal economy grappling with a recession. In a Republic of serial dramas, (or is it “African magic”?) with serial fast paced episodes, it is better to recap the latest episode, lest we legitimately mistake this story for another controversy over some unclaimed cash seizures.
This episode is exactly not about cash seizures, but cash awards, (but cash nonetheless!). Last month, Governor Nasir El-Rufai as the host to the National Assembly retreat in Kaduna threw a straight dart at the legislators urging them to provide further details “on the opaque N115 billion 2016 NASS budget”. In an on-the-spot-response, (which betrays the legislators’ legendary slow response to “matters of national importance”!) Speaker Yakubu Dogara, dared Kaduna State Chief Executive chieftain/APC compatriot to make public his security votes and local government expenditure.
True to character, (Governor Nasir El-Rufai who has never turned the second cheek!) “welcomes this challenge as a necessary step to improve and strengthen our democracy”, and refers the Hon Speaker to the www.openkaduna.com.ng website which details 2016 Kaduna state budget as well as that of the 23 local government councils. El-Rufai rightly amplified the numbers in billions of Naira expended on security “tangibles” like procured and installed CCTV cameras for monitoring and surveillance towards reducing “Criminal Activities” within the Metropolis, checking kidnappers’ GSM calls, locating bandits in Forest Reserves across the state and supporting “the network of federal Security Agencies in Kaduna with communications, logistics and materials”. Significantly, the governor published his February 2017 pay slip which revealed a net pay of some N470,521.74, with details such as: Basic Salary, N185,308.75, Hardship Allowance, N370,617.50, Gross Pay, N555,926.25, and PAYE, N85,404.51.
In a pay-slip for-pay slip diatribe, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, in Abuja released details of his salary for October, 2016 to March, 2017: N402, 530.10 gross pay per month, after deduction; N346,577.87. Dogara’s basic salary is N206, 425.83, constituency, N175, 461.96 and recess N20, 642.58. First let’s look at some Godliness in these petty details. For one we now know that governors and legislators also have pay slips like many of us, meaning both the governors and legislators are public workers after all despite high sounding titles like Honourables and Excellencies.
Some workers are undoubtedly more dignified, they have Royal titles in addition to their pay slips! Secondly judging from their pay slips, it is on record, that no governor or legislator is having pay arrears unlike millions of workers they claim to govern in Federal and states civil service some of whom are owned on the average 5 months pay, two years’ pension arrears in some instances and a year long gratuity/defined benefits after 35 years of service in not a few cases. Some workers are certainly more favored with pay as at when due and their names are governors and legislators!
Thirdly it is very interesting that no governor or legislator lives on N18,000 minimum wage. Special Assistant, Media and Publicity, Samuel Aruwa, was hard put to say that his boss’ pay (Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s) ” ..may appear puny” (who is complaining?) apologetically adding that “it reflects what the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission approved as the salary and allowances of every state governor adjusted to reflect provision in-kind of accommodation and transportation”. Is Special Assistant, Media and Publicity, Samuel Aruwan, aware that for ordinary working woman and man, N18,000 minimum wage covers all working and living cost items like feeding, accommodation transport. And there in lies the devils in the details not revealed by both Meusier Nasir El-Rufai and Yakubu Dogara. How much is the “provision “in-kind of accommodation and transportation” for governors and legislators and how sustainable is this in an economy in recession? Judging from the pay slips of both Nasir El-Rufai and Yakubu Dogara, one is tempted to ask for some “poverty alleviation” measures for all governors and legislators alike. Every body however knows the governance and living styles of political office holders could not have been financed with the exhibited pay slips. Pay slips which ” ..may appear puny” would not pay for serial private flights, endless convoy vehicles, and for the legislators multi billion Naira “constituents projects” of dubious value.
And what of double and triple wages two term governors turned senators? The hidden details about the compensation for political office holders show that their total pay is indeed perpetuating mass income poverty, worsening wage income inequality, with attendant distortions of the nation’s economic recovery, growth and development. Let us pause to consider the plight of a minimum wage earner in a recession. The 2010 negotiated national minimum wage of N18,000 was about $120 in 2010. With massive Naira devaluation, the current minimum age has unacceptably fallen to less than $45 in 2016, a quarter of its nominal value in 2016. As the rich cry about full disclosure about their pay, there is an urgent need to increase the pay of the working people. Prompt payment of the existing salaries by states and local governments (just as governors and legislators are promptly paid) and urgent wage increases in both the private and sectors linked with productivity improvement are the smartest and quickest ways to stimulate the nation’s economy.
Issa Aremu, mni
