Federal Government Approves 114% Salary Increase For Tinubu, Shettima, Governors

The Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has approved a 114 per cent increase in the salaries of elected politicians, including the President, vice president, governors, lawmakers as well as judicial and public office holders.

RMAFC is saddled with the responsibility of determining the remuneration appropriate for political officeholders including the President, Vice President, Governors, Deputy Governors, Ministers, Commissioners, Special Advisers, Legislators and the holders of the offices as mentioned in Sections 84 and 124 of this Constitution.

The commission urged the 36 states’ Houses of Assembly to hasten efforts on amendment of relevant laws to give room for upward review of remuneration packages for political, judicial and public officers.

According to NAN, the RMAFC Chairman, Muhammadu Shehu, represented by a federal commissioner, Rakiya Tanko-Ayuba, made the call at the presentation of reports of the reviewed remuneration package to Kebbi State governor, Dr Nasir Idris, on Tuesday in Birnin Kebbi.

He said the implementation of the reviewed remuneration packages was effective from January 1, 2023, adding that the move was in accordance 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 the last remuneration review was conducted in 2007, noting that it culminated in the “certain political, public and judicial office holders (salaries and allowances, etc) (Amendment) Act, 2008”.

Shehu 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 the federal government.

“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, 1st February, 2023, the commission held a one-day zonal public hearing on the review of the remuneration package simultaneously in all the six (6) geo-political zones of the country. The aim of the exercise was to harvest inputs/ideas from a broad spectrum of stakeholders.”

He said the commission had objectively and subjectively reviewed the salary packages in the reports, adding that it adheres to the rules of equity and fairness, risk and responsibilities, national order of precedence among others.

“The subjective criteria reflected the various expression by stakeholders through memoranda received, opinion expressed during the zonal public hearings and responses to questionnaires administered.

“The objectives of the criteria were obtained from analysis of macro-economic variables particularly the Consumer Price Index (CPI),” he noted.

The chairman added that the commission was also guided by some principles, including equity and fairness; risk and responsibilities; national order of precedence; motivation and tenure of office.

Shehu said that having considered the impact of the review on the economy, the remuneration of the political, public and judicial office holders in the country was adjusted “upward by 114%.”

The chairman explained that with respect to the judicial office holders, the commission considered the introduction of three new allowances.

He listed the allowances to include, “Professional Development Assistant: This is to allow for the provision of two law clerks to all judicial officers in the country.

“Long Service Allowance: This is to guarantee seniority/hierarchy between officers who have been on the bench for a minimum of five years and those that are appointed newly.

“Restricted or Forced Lifestyle: This is to take care of the nature of the lifestyle of judicial officers while in active service.”

President Buhari, Governors, Local Government Chairmen Share N990.189 Billion In December

The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has shared N990.189 billion with the three tiers of government for December 2022.

This is contained in a statement by Mr Phil Abiamuwe-Mowete, Director (Information/Press), Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.

From the N990.189 billion, President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime received N375.306 billion, the 36 governors and the FCT minister received N299.557 billion, while the 774 local government chairmen got N221.807 billion.

The N990.189 billion received by the Federal Government comprised gross statutory revenue, value-added tax (VAT), exchange gain and electronic money transfer levies (EMTL).

In addition, oil-producing states received N93.519 billion as 13 per cent of mineral derivation revenue.

A communiqué issued by FAAC at the end of its meeting on Tuesday indicated that gross revenue from VAT for December 2022 was N250.512 billion.

“From the VAT collected, N7.215 billion was allocated to the Northeast Development Commission Project, while the Federal Inland Revenue Service and the Nigeria Customs Service got N10.020 billion as cost of collection,” said the statement. “From the balance of N233.277 billion, the federal government got N34.992 billion; states received N116.639 billion, while local government councils got N81.647 billion.”

It added that the gross statutory revenue of N1136.183 billion was received for December 2022.

“From this amount, N31.531 billion was given as (the) cost of collection and N396.896 billion released to transfers, savings and refunds. From the balance of N707.756 billion, N325.105 billion was allocated to the federal government; N165.897 billion was allocated to states, while local councils got N127.129 billion,” the communique explained. “Oil derivation (13 per cent mineral revenue) for oil-producing states got N90.625 billion.”

It further revealed that the N24.315 billion received as EMTL was also distributed to the three tiers of government. The federal government received N3.648 billion, states received N12.157 billion, and local councils received N8.510 billion.

The communiqué also stated that N24.841 billion from exchange gain was shared among the federal government (N11.562 billion), states (N5.864 billion), and local councils (N4.521 billion). Oil derivation (13 per cent of mineral revenue) got N2.894 billion.

FAAC also noted that Petroleum Profit Tax, Company Income Tax and VAT recorded significant increases, while import duty decreased considerably. Oil and gas royalties and excise duty increased marginally, it stated.

The total revenue “distributable” for December 2022 was drawn from statutory revenue of N707.756 billion, VAT of N233.277 billion, exchange gain of N24.841 billion, and N24.315 billion from EMTL, FAAC revealed. This brought the total “distributable” for December 2022 to N990.189 billion.

FAAC also stated that the Excess Crude Account balance as of January 17 stood at $473,754.57.

Your Anti-open Grazing Law Is Satanic We Won’t Obey It – Miyetti Allah Dares Southern Governors

According to Saleh Alhassan the National Secretary of Fulani Socio-Cultural Association, Miyetti Allah, members of the association won’t obey the anti-open grazing laws enacted by some Southern governors.

Alhassan the law is “satanic and empty reporters had earlier reported that the 17 Southern governors led by Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo state met in Lagos on July 5, 2021, and “set a timeline of Wednesday, 1st September, 2021 for the promulgation of the anti open grazing law in all member states”.

On August 31, 2021, Akeredolu signed into law, the Anti-Grazing Bill passed by the State House of Assembly.

Some other governors in the Southern part of the country had also signed the bill into law in the last few weeks with a move geared towards curbing farmer-herder crisis and attendant insecurity in the region.

On Tuesday, Alhassan condemned the move by Akeredolu and his colleagues.

He said, “As far as we are concerned, the anti-grazing bill is a satanic bill. We have already initiated legal actions both locally and internationally against Akeredolu and other governors trying to destroy our means of livelihood.

“All the people promoting the law are in connivance with the devil. How do you disturb people from their normal business without providing alternative? It’s an empty law, it’s just a political body they are using to steal money in the name of security votes. Most of the cows you see in Southern Nigeria belong to Yoruba and Igbo merchants; they are the ones that owe these cows. This hype about anti-grazing is just political.

“Even in Benue that it has been implemented, what are the consequences? It’s such a devilish law, you see crisis all over; there is no secret grazing since the time of Moses. They should provide the ranches, we are ready to even hire the ranches if available. Cattle rearing is not okada business you can ban by law. This is the culture of the people, you can’t change it overnight.”

When asked if the association was ready to comply with the law, he said, “How will you obey an empty law? The law is satanic, it’s not implementable, it’s a negative law, so how do you implement that? Do you start arresting people with their cattle? Where are the ranches you have created for them?

“We know that we are serving a living God. We are warning seriously that any tribal security outfit that will listen to their Governor that they want to illegally eject our herders or steal their cows, God will be deal with them in numerous ways. We are peace loving.”

I’m Planning PDP’s Victory In South-East With Obi, Governors – Ekweremadu

The Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, has expressed his commitment to the victory of the Peoples Democratic Party and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in the forthcoming general elections.

Towards this end, Ekweremadu, on Monday, said he had held separate meetings with the vice-presidential candidate of the party, Peter Obi,  and South-East governors on how to achieve victory at the polls.