In the last two weeks, the National Assembly has been receiving the bashing from several commentators on the allegation of jumbo pay allotted to the lawmakers. Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, ignited the current fire when he addressed students of the Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State and told them that Nigeria spends 25 per cent of its overhead costs on the National Assembly.

Though the claim has become contentious, pitching the executive against the legislature, Sanusi, who is regarded as a man who should know, has refused to acknowledged the errors in his calculations, at least in clear terms.

But the reality in the political circles is such that whether Sanusi is right or wrong, not many would care. As far as he uttered those words in a public lecture, there are many who would hail him. He stands losing his public image of “a fighter on the side of the people,” if he ventures to withdraw those statements.

It is clear that Sanusi has realised the implication of withdrawing his earlier statements and he has hung on to his logic of 25 per cent even when he was confronted with copies of the 2010 Nigerian budget which contains the full figures of government expenditure.

The 2010 budget book is a body of laws, whose implementation is binding on the government of the Federation. Non implementation of the Budget is termed a sacrilege in legislative circles and easily leads to impeachment moves for the executive office holder whose duty it is to execute the law.

Thus, only figures contained in the budget are true of the Nigerian economic projections and spending. But Sanusi went to the Budget Office to obtain a document which he relied upon to make his projection. So far, he has refused to back down on the claim that lawmakers consume 25 per cent of the nation’s overhead costs.

But the figures contained in the 2010 budget available in the Ministry of Finance, the National Assembly, the CBN and ministries are not in support of the 25 per cent claim. That notwithstanding, the nation has been awash with calls that the lawmakers must return all excess payments to government coffers.

While the lawmakers have their own faults, it would be factually incorrect to hang the Sanusi charge on their necks.  For instance, the salary of a senator stands at about N1.3 million a month. That of a member of the lower House stands at about N1.1 million a month and nothing more. But the mistake the lawmakers can be said to have made is by allowing the funds meant for running of government offices, constituency offices and medicals to be paid into their accounts in the name of the “Self Accounting Procedure.”

Usually, the money should have been kept in some separate accounts and the lawmaker is expected to apply for it when the need arises.

But Sanusi has stirred the hornet’s nest and the ripple effects appear unending. He appears the hero against the lawmakers, even when his facts are muddled up.

Last week, in response to cries from opposition figures against the perceived jumbo pay of lawmakers, Senate spokesman, Senator Ayogu Eze, told Nigerians that the lawmakers are ready for pay cut, if that would stem the negative publicity.

He insisted that Nigerians were being made to see the funds meant for the running of their offices as personal emoluments, which he said is incorrect.

He said that the senators were ready to disclose their salaries and receive pay cuts if that is what Nigerians wanted.

He stated: “Nigerians have mixed up what is used to run the office of a senator with the salary or entitlement of the senator or member of the National Assembly. I have said that severally. You should have asked why is it that everybody is interested in knowing the salary and allowances of only members of National Assembly when they are not the only people who are earning salary and allowances?”

But is salary cut the answer? It is doubtful if such a measure would achieve any desired goal.

Nigerians need to ask what they want to make of their public office holders and how to remunerate them. There is also a more fundamental issue of social security for the politician and the common man. A man who has attained the level of a National Assembly member would not want to “go back home empty.” Whereas Nigerians from their constituencies continue to pour into their offices daily to demand all sorts of hand outs. The incongruencies needed to be tackled at a go to give a true meaning to a cry against jumbo pay.