I have always been an advocate of a Sovereign National Conference which our governments are opposed until President Goodluck Jonathan now seems to have had a rethink. I still have my doubts as to whether the President will go the whole length. However, whatever his motives were, I believe we can hijack it to our advantage! I am particularly delighted at the calibre of nominees as delegates!
One area I appeal to these delegates to address is the obscene pays that attach to being in government at whatever level. There are projections that each delegate will go home with N12 million. I appeal to the delegates to fix a pay for themselves that will reflect the economic situation of the country! They can then go on from there to fix salaries that will attach to various offices in the land, from the President to the councillor. Anyone who feels that pay is too low for him should stay away and allow those who are only out to serve to come forward.
They should recommend the scrapping of RMAFC, which has been recommending the outrageous pays to people in government, which pays make getting into office a do or die affair. The erstwhile CBN Governor alleged that our legislators consumed 25% of the country’s recurrent expenditure which they denied vehemently. Senator Enyinaya, the Senate spokesperson, later claimed it was only three percent.
Granted that it is three percent, what that means is that, even if we generously grant that there are about 5000 of them, it means they are consuming the entitlement of about five million people because that is what three percent of 170 million, Nigeria’s population comes to.
Another area is that not less than 70% of our annual budget should be for capital expenditure. Anyway the trimming down of the compensations for public officers will take care of that.
If this is all the conference will achieve, it will be quite an achievement as it will sanitize the polity.
Abiodun Sopitan,
[email protected]
