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Economic Confidential,
April 19, 2009
EXCLUSIVE NEWS
FG
Finally Cut Salaries of Public Officers-
Effective April 2009
The
Federal Government has finally cut the monthly remuneration of all
political and public office holders in the Executive Branch of
government at the federal level by 20%
(twenty percent) effective from April 2009.
In
an official document obtained by the
online intelligence publication, Economic Confidential
at the weekend, the new directive affects the
salaries and allowances of ministers, Special Advisers, chief
executives and chairmen and members of constitutional bodies
mentioned in the Certain Political, Public and Judicial office
Holders (salaries and Allowances, etc) Act 2008.
The
president made the directive to facilitate his early resolution on
the need to reduce the remuneration of all public officers in view
of the global economic meltdown.
In
a computation by the magazine the President’ s salary would drop
from N3,514,705.00 to 2,811,764 while that of the Vice President
would come down to N2,425,257.6 from N3,031,572.50.
The
Salary of Minister, Secretary to the Government of the Federation,
Chairmen of statutory bodies, Head of Service, Chief of Staff and
Principal Private Secretary to the President is reduced to
N1,621,120 from N2,026,400.00 while Federal Commissioner/Member of
constitutional bodies would now receive N1,566,064 from
N1,957,580.00.
The
Special Adviser to the President would each receive N1, 554,300
from N1,942,875.00 while Auditor General, Accountant General and
Perm Secretary including Director General and Executive Secretary
would each receive N1,540,692 from 1,925,865.00.
The
Economic Confidential further gathered that the amount to be saved
from the deductions which is estimated at N2.5billion per annum
would be pooled into a fund which is to purchase additional
transportation for public sector workers in the FCT to ease the
burden of transportation costs.
This new directive does not affect judicial officers and legislators
as they are different arms.
A
very senior Presidency sources who spoke to
the Economic Confidential said that the President recognizes the
imperatives of compliance with constitutional provisions with
regards to remunerations of office holders and has emphasized the
need for the two other arms of government to make voluntary
decisions regarding sacrifices as suggested.
While the National Assembly may likely consider such reduction in
their remunerations, the judicial officers are reluctant.
The
Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Idris Kutigi had in March
2009 insisted that the directive of President Yar’Adua for the
downward review of remuneration packages does not extend to judicial
officers because the security of tenure of all judicial officers in
the Federation is guaranteed under Section 84 Subsection (1)- (4) of
the 1999 Constitution of the Federal republic of Nigeria, to the
effect that salaries and allowances of judicial officers cannot be
altered to their disadvantage.
The
Presidency’s short-cut for immediately implementation of the
reduction of salaries and allowances of the political office holders
was to hasten the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal
Commission (RMAFC) to determine the
salaries.
The
Commission is constitutionally empowered to determine and fix the
salaries of all political and public office holders in Nigeria in
the Executive, Judicial and Legislative arms at federal, states and
local government councils. The Commission is presently in dilemma of
accepting the voluntary deductions by the Presidency for its
officers which constitutionally should passed through various
processes. By the 1999 Constitution the Commission would study the
reality on ground, consider and consult the stakeholders and make
recommendation to the national Assembly who would then approve it.
REMUNERATION PACKAGES FOR FEDERAL EXCEUTIVE OFFICERS
|
S/No |
Federal Executive Officers |
Existing Annual Basic Salary by RMAFC |
20% Downward Review by the FG |
|
1 |
President |
3,514,705.00 |
2,811,764 |
|
2 |
Vice President |
3,031,572.50 |
2,425,257.6 |
|
3 |
Ministers, SGF, HOS, COS,PPS |
2,026,400.00 |
1,621,120 |
|
4 |
Chairman |
2,026,400.00 |
1,621,120 |
|
5 |
Federal Commissioner/Member |
1,957,580.00 |
1,566,064 |
|
6 |
Special Adviser to C-in-C |
1,942,875.00 |
1,554,300 |
|
7 |
AGF, Perm Sec, DG, ES, CEO |
1,925,865.00 |
1,540,692 |
Source: The Economic Confidential
For more
check the past exclusives from the Economic Confidential in the
Archive or click:
New Salaries and Allowances
for Legislators- August 17, 2008
New Remuneration for
Legislators - June 2007
Jumbo Salaries for Officers at
Executive and Judiciary Arms April 2007
(C) Readers are free to reproduce our exclusives and tables by
acknowledging the source in the publication. |
