The Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has urged the 36 Houses of Assembly to fast-track the amendment of relevant laws to give room for upward review of remuneration packages for political, judicial and public officers.
The commission’s chairman, Alhaji Muhammadu Shehu, spoke at the presentation of reports of the reviewed remuneration package to Kebbi State Governor Nasir Idris yesterday in Birnin Kebbi, the state capital.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that work by the Houses of Assembly would allow for the commencement of implementation of the reviewed remuneration packages for political, public and judicial officers.
The RMAFC chairman, who was represented by the Federal Commissioner, Mrs. Rakiya Tanko-Ayuba, an indigene of Kebbi State, presented the report to the governor during a visit at the Government House in Birnin Kebbi.
Shehu said the move was in line with the provision of Paragraph 32(d) of Part 1 of the Third Schedule of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Government (as amended).
He said: “It empowers the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission to determine the remuneration appropriate for political office holders, including the President, Vice President, governors, deputy governors, ministers, commissioners, special advisers, legislators and the holders of the offices mentioned in Sections 84 and 124 of the Constitution of Federal Government.”
Shehu said the last review of the remuneration was carried out in 2007, which culminated in the “Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, etc) (Amendment) Act, 2008.
“Sixteen years after the last review, it is imperative that the remuneration packages for the categories of the office holders mentioned in relevant sections of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) should be reviewed.
“Pursuant to the above, Your Excellency may please recall that on Wednesday, February 1, 2023, the commission held a one-day zonal public hearing on the review of the remuneration package simultaneously in all the six geo-political zones of the country.
“The aim of the exercise was to harvest inputs/ideas from a broad spectrum of stakeholders,” he said.
According to the chairman, the commission has reviewed the remuneration packages as contained in the reports based on a combination of subjective and objective criteria.