The “Whys” of the Legislators’ Jumbo Pay

THERE is none with a healthy conscience who would not be alarmed by the jumbo pay Senators and Representatives approved for themselves. Before any comment, however, let’s see the salaries and emoluments table:

Our Senator N20m N240m N960m Monthly/Yearly In 4 Years

109 Senators N2.18b N26.16b N104.64b Monthly/Yearly In 4 Years

Our Representatives N12m N144m N576m Monthly/Yearly In 4 Years

360 Reps N4.32b N51.84b N207.36b Monthly/Yearly In 4 Years

For all Senators and Reps N6.5b N78b N312b Monthly/Yearly In 4 Years

Source: The Westerner, April 13 – 19, 2008, p.11

The pay to each Senator and each Representative, of course, includes their basic salaries and allowances (which encompass pays for domestic servants, constituency allowances, personal staff, etc). But the figures exclude the routine Ghana–must–go bags from the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) over which they excise the so–called “oversight functions”. The latest evidence of these is the Ministry of Health loot for which Iyabo Obasanjo–Bello is being hunted by the EFCC and for which her colleagues in the Senate have been defending and shielding her. You’ll recall that when the scandal broke out, the Senate passed a resolution that the type of loot for which Iyabo is standing trial is normal, proper and just.

Thus, the pay packet which the general public knows about and which it describes as scandalous is just a fraction of what the legislators actually earn. As it is known in the popular Nigerian parlance, “Egunje pass salary!” The question, however, is this: why would the legislators corner so much of the national resources for themselves? Three reasons, among others, stick out.

The first is the cost of election. As it is well known, it costs a fortune for anyone to stand for election and win in Nigeria. Although, the Electoral Act of 2006 placed a ceiling over the amount candidates for the different elective posts could spend, it is, however, known that no candidate can spend less than at least twenty- fold of the stipulated amount to win an election.

According to Section 99, sub-section 2 of the Electoral Act, “the maximum election expenses to be incurred by a candidate at a presidential election shall be N50million, while that of governorship shall be N20million. Candidates for senatorial seats and House of Representatives shall not spend more than N8million and N5million respectively. Both candidates for State Assembly and council chairmanship polls shall not incur more than N2million.” Sub-section 10 of the same Section 99 stipulates that “no individual or other entity shall donate more than N100,000 to any candidate”.

In violation of both sub-sections 2 and 10 of Section 99 of the Electoral Act, both President Yar’Adua and one of his biggest sponsors, James Ibori, exceeded the mark by a wide margin. According to Azubuike Ishiekwene, the respected Director of Publications of The Punch newspapers, in his new book, The Trial of Nuhu Ribadu, “ it was, in fact, strongly alleged in many circles that not only did he (Ibori) put his heart into the project, he also advanced the Yar’Adua / Jonathan Campaign Organisation with N20b” (p.32).

If the Ibori’s contribution was all that was spent in making Yar’Adua president, that already is 400 times the amount stipulated by law. But you know that that couldn’t have been all. The case of President Yar’Adua is typical of the experience of all leading candidates, including the legislators, in the last and previous elections in Nigeria. Actually, if the law is anything in the country, Yar’Adua should by now be in prison rather than in the Presidential Villa where he is currently domiciled. Same for all the governors, legislators and elected council officials.

The pay the legislators appropriate for themselves should, therefore, be seen as the normal return an entrepreneur expects from his / her investment. As political entrepreneurs, what the legislators pay to themselves is gross earning from which must be deducted capital expenditure (electoral expenses) and other recurrent and incidental expenses. The balance is their own profit.

Second, this is the recurrent section of the balance sheet, the legislators are compelled, by the logic of the political system, to spend part of their loot to maintain grassroots supports. And this includes the hefty sums they have to pay to the power brokers, godfathers and traditional rulers of their different constituencies. Failure to dispense enough of this recurrent expenditure is failure to return to the National Assembly at the next elections.

Third, over time, the legislators have come to realise to loathe the enormous power the executive branch of government (the President and his Ministers and the Governors and their Commissioners) wields over state resources. Being now acutely aware of their power of resource appropriation and the power to threaten and harass the executives, the legislators now help themselves to the till first before anyone else. The thinking is this: “if the presidency elements and the Government House folks corner so much for themselves, what are we then doing for ourselves? Have we come here to Abuja to count skyscrapers?” Of course, the legislators are not now counting skyscrapers: they are building skyscrapers for themselves!

Now, what does the foregoing tell us? It does say: yes, these fellows who corner so much of the country’s resources for themselves are greedy. More importantly, however, it draws our attention to the rottenness of the socio-political system that makes that possible, inevitable and inexorable. It leads me to only one conclusion, the very one reached by Sonala Olumhese of the Sunday Guardian in his column of last Sunday: “We have to tear this temple down.”