THE Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has proposed a new salary structure for the president, the vice president, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, ministers and other top government officials in the country.
The proposal is contained in a bill that seeks to amend the salaries and allowances of certain political, public and judicial office holders presented to the National Assembly by the RMAFC.
The bill proposed an annual basic salary of N3.5 million for the president, N3 million for the vice president and N3.3 million for the Chief Justice of Nigeria.
It also proposed an annual basic salary of N2.206 million for the Chief of Staff to the President, ministers, Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Head of Civil Service of the Federation.
Chairman of the commissions established by an act of the National Assembly are also to earn a basic salary of N2 million each. The RMAFC also proposed annual basic salary of N1.957 million for ministers of state.
Special Advisers to the President are to earn a basic salary of N1.942 million. The bill also suggested N1.925 million as annual basic salary for the Auditor-General of the Federation, permanent secretaries, chief executives of parastatal agencies and INEC resident electoral commissioners.
In the judiciary, the bill proposed N2.5 million as annual basic salary for a justice of the Supreme Court and the president of the Court of Appeal.
It proposed about N2 million for the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court and FCT Chief Judge. Apart from the basic salaries, the bill also proposed allowances and fringe benefits for the affected officers that covered accommodation, utilities, domestic staff, entertainment, medical, security and furniture.
Others are vehicle loan, personal assistants� emoluments, severance allowance, leave allowance, hardship allowance, newspaper allowance, duty tour allowance, estacode, constituency allowance and monitoring allowances.
The president and the vice president, according to the bill, will get 400 per cent of their basic salary as vehicle loan, a severance allowance of 300 per cent of basic pay and 10 per cent as leave allowance.
They will also get 250 per cent of their basic pay annually as constituency allowance and 50 per cent as hardship allowance. Other benefits, like newspapers; accommodation, utilities, domestic staff; entertainment would be provided for the duo by government.
The RMAFC has also proposed a sitting allowance of N500,000 for each member of the Council of State. The council will sit six times in a year. If the National Assembly approves the proposal, each of the members would be paid N3 million in a year as sitting allowance.
Members of the Council of State are the president, the vice president, former heads of state and former presidents, the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the President of the Senate. Others are state governors and former chief justices of Nigeria.