That Reduction of Councillors’ Allowance by 735%

By McDonald Koiki

I need to first ask that this article is not misconstrued; this is owing to the fact that there has been an age long squabble as to why councilors should earn fabulous remunerations. In as much as I am not suggesting that the councilors be given jumbo pay at the end of every month, they should be given some substantial benefit that will keep them away from corrupt practices, mediocrity and possible clashes – with the ‘chairman’ of their Local Government Areas.

Most arguments on this subject usually juxtapose the salaries of University dons with that of the Local Government Area Councilors. I must say at this point that there is no basis for comparing these categories of people, because the responsibilities of the University dons in the long term are more far-reaching than those of the Local Government Councilors. But in the immediate term, the responsibilities of the Local Government Councilors have more effects on the locals than those of the University dons, because they are closer to the people, hence, Local Government Councilors are entrusted with the day-to-day well being of the grassroots people.

Recent developments as reported by the Economic Confidential show that the once enviable position of Local Government Area Councilor with attractive remuneration of NGN232,773.28 per month plus other incentives has been turned into an undesirable position. Otherwise, how best can one describe a 735% slash in remuneration of this category of public office holders? One would begin to wonder the rationale behind this action. Does this class of public office holders deserve this treatment, irrespective of reasons provided?

Out of a total of 21 items shown on the Reviewed Allowance list which was computed by the Economic Confidential from the report of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, 12 of them have been withdrawn while 9 were slashed. The items that were withdrawn include: motor vehicle loan, motor vehicle maintenance allowance, special assistant, personal assistant, estacode, domestic staff, entertainment allowance, robe allowance, newspapers/periodicals allowance, severance gratuity, house maintenance and legislative aide. While the slashed items include: furniture allowance – slashed by 250%, utility allowance – slashed by 20% and constituency allowance – slashed by 10%.

In order to effectively carry out their duties, this group of public office holders requires certain level of comfort, they are not robots, they can forget things, and they can get tired, hence they need assistants. Why should their aides be scrapped? Who will help them take notes or remind them of appointments or projects? Why should their newspaper/periodicals allowance be scrapped? Should they buy dailies and periodicals from the slashed resources? How would they get information? Why should they not be given car loans? How can they move around knowing the kind of rugged terrains that some of them may have to work in?

Talking about terrains, perhaps some of us are completely unaware of the challenges posed by the terrains in which some of these Councilors operate in. For instance, some of these rural areas do not have motorable roads, electricity and telephone services. Hence, such Councilors should be entitled to vehicles designed for rough terrains, 24 hours power supply and perhaps satellite phone – Thuraya. The provision of these facilities for Councilors is not luxury, but necessity. One would argue that they are expected to provide these facilities – good roads, electricity, health centres and rural telephony – for their communities, but how can they work to provide these facilities, if they are not given enabling working conditions first?

The effects of this latest development are glaring: firstly, these Councilors would have to find some alternative ways of making up for this short-falls in their remunerations, call it corrupt practices, sharp practices or whatever name you may choose to call it. Secondly, efficiency will subsequently drop, don’t ask me why, all you need to do is flip this old saying “to whom much is given much is expected” then you should be able to find the answers for yourself. Thirdly, it will not attract the best brains to contribute their quota to national development via grassroots development. Why should I want to become a councilor when the bank, telecoms or oil sector is more appealing? Fourthly, this development may result in strife between the Councilors and their Chairman; this is because, the Councilors may want to arm-twist their Local Government Chairman on issues of council project execution.

The Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission should not be coerced by any individual or group into taking retrogressive decisions; they should critically review their position on this matter very well before taking any action that may not be in the interest of the country. This is very important as the Reviewed Allowance List has not been brought before the National Assembly and The Presidency for assent.

See: Table of New Salaries and Allowances of Nigeria’s Legislators

McDonald Koiki

mckosa2001@yahoo.com

Robot  # 1 | 19.08.2009 02:26

Recent developments as reported by the Economic Confidential show that the once enviable position of Local Government Area Councilor with attractive remuneration of NGN232,773.28 per month plus other incentives has been turned into an undesirable position. Otherwise, how best can one describe a 735% slash in remuneration of this category of public office holders? ...Read the full article.

Elemosho  # 2 | 19.08.2009 18:31

The fact remains that the wage bill of these political office holders is just too exorbitant!!!! Am actually surprised that the Councillors are paid allowances for “Assistants”. Am very familiar with the working of my local government, none of the councillors has any assistant, I will be taken this up with them in the next town hall meeting...............

Profegee  # 3 | 20.08.2009 07:04

Talking about terrains, perhaps some of us are completely unaware of the challenges posed by the terrains in which some of these Councilors operate in. For instance, some of these rural areas do not have motorable roads, electricity and telephone services. Hence, such Councilors should be entitled to vehicles designed for rough terrains, 24 hours power supply and perhaps satellite phone – Thuraya. The provision of these facilities for Councilors is not luxury, but necessity. One would argue that they are expected to provide these facilities – good roads, electricity, health centres and rural telephony – for their communities, but how can they work to provide these facilities, if they are not given enabling working conditions first? First and foremost, I am shocked by the arithmetic of the percentage reduction. There could be several hundreds or thousands percentage increment, but a 100% reduction implies a zero net pay. By the way, what challenges do they face? How do they emerge as councillors in the first instance? The structure of the ruling party is to make these councillors "errand boyz" of the council chairman. What do most of them do for a living - NURTW/RTEAN members, carpentry, shoe cobblers, vulcanizer, etc. In a normal clime, I believe most of them cannot be selected as their family representatives. Have you forgotten that the godfather only compensate the local thugs with the councillorship ticket? How do you thing people like "Tokyo" were endeared to Adedibu. In a normal setting, do you think Gbolarumi (former deputy of Alao-Akala during the 11 months of Ladoja's sabbatical leave) would ever be considered for Local government chairmanship post let alone deputy governor. And we all saw how they displayed characters. Can we just point at a single thing that a councillor has attracted to his ward? Nothing!!! It's high time, some political offices be run on part-time basis. How do we explain a situation where a secondary school drop-out house leader or a supervisory councillor for works will have to query what a professional engineer with MSc degree does only for political point. I have seen situation where a council agreed that the director of town planning should come with a proposal for development of the local council. Unknown to the director of local planning, the intention of these people is to get a proposal to syphon public fund. There are millions of experienced Nigerians including both working class and retired but active civil servants who could more actively contribute to the betterment of their local domain than the riff-raff. Even in most state house of assembly, you need a strong proof to shield you from gramatical bullets of the legislative members. The earlier we wakeup from deception, the better for our nation.

Olamide  # 4 | 24.08.2009 14:45

Most of these councillors are parasites and as far as I amconcerned, the issue of wether we need councillors when we already have members of state houses of assembly, members of house of representatives and Senators is highly debatable and I am not convinced of the altruistic motives of the writer of this article. Wether you pay them 2 million naira per month, they will still sit and share the revenue they manage to generate every week. Most come to work when there is money to be divided. My former local government chairman did not show up at his office for almost 2 years because he was based in London and only comes around to come and sign for the monthly allocations which he divided between the councillors, Gateway Fraud Foundation and the various godfathers and godmothers in the state. I support the idea of making the position of councillors and local government chairmen honorary without any salaries and allowances. The honorarium that should be paid to these category of office holders should be pegged at 500 naira oper month as a symbolic gesture only.