| Misunderstanding and Misinformation in the Dollar Salary Debate |
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| Tuesday, 27 July 2004 | |||||||||||||
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Referenced report: Laolu's Journal: The Inside Story Of The Dollar Salary Mr Laolu Akande's report in The Sunday Guardian of July 25, 2004, titled, "How I convinced Obasanjo on Dollar Salary, Says El-Rufai" makes interesting reading. I read this story first on The Guardian website and then later read the same story from the journalist himself on another website - nigeriavillagesquare.com - and noted that the latter was a fuller report. Now, I don't know if The Guardian website's report is different from the hardcopy sold in the streets (that is to the extent that for the constraints of space or for whatever reasons, The Sunday Guardian might have published only an abridged version on the website), but I've chosen here to respond to the full report, as presented by Mr Akande himself as I read it on the nigeriavillagesquare.com website and as possibly published in the hardcopy of that day. This is obviously a much more detailed report on the speech by the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Mallam El-Rufai at the New York Nigerian Lawyers Association event where he received the so-called merit award. For the preceding weeks after the event, the news that dominated the space had been his ill-advised accusation of Emeka Ugwuonye, the former Chairman of NIDO of using my name (which El-Rufai considered fake) to campaign against the dollar salary. But now, we are getting this report about the substance of what he actually said. Mallam El-Rufai's revelation that he was instrumental in convincing Okonjo-Iweala to take the job flies in the face of all reason. Indeed, anyone alive in Nigeria then and Nigerians abroad should have been quite aware that this story of Okonjo-Iweala first rejecting the job makes no sense. Here was a lady who had come three years earlier to serve in some capacity within the administration, that is, as Presidential Adviser on Economic Issues and Debt Management; here was a lady whose imminent appointment as the Finance Minister was already an open secret before the appointment. Indeed, if there was anyone whose impending ministerial appointment was well-known before the time, it was Okonjo-Iweala. Tons and tons of pages of reports and analyses littered the newspapers and colonized the airwaves in that period and in all these, only her proposed appointment as the Finance Minister wasn't in dispute, even as journalists played the guessing game with all other names and proposed portfolios. This was even pretty clear before the second term election of President Obasanjo. So, how this could have been a surprise and how this could have been rejected and how it had to take El-Rufai to convince her is a mysterious conundrum. In effect, what El-Rufai is telling us is that Okonjo-Iweala did not lobby for the position and that the phone call was a surprise (El-Rufai claimed to have been there when she received it, that she instantly rejected the appointment and that it was him, El-Rufai, who took it upon himself to insist that she must accept). Below is the relevant portion of Mr Akande's report: "I told her you must take the job, she said she can't," El Rufai recalled as he narrated to the over 200 guests at the Law dinner the reasons Okonjo-Iweala proferred. The guests included US Congressman Charles Rangel, a powerful African American legislator and hundreds of Nigerian professionals in New York. According to Rufai, Iweala then explained to him that due to financial considerations including her upcoming huge pension payment at the World Bank, which she might loose in case she left the Bank. Iweala was also concerned about other financial commitments like school fees for her children's education in the US attending such top institutions as Harvard Universities and mortgage payments in Washington DC where she lived with her specialist surgeon husband, Dr. Ikemba Iweala, himself a distinguished Nigerian medical practitioner in the US. The finance minister was so worried that the salary of a minister would lead to a heavy financial burden for her if she were to maintain all her financial commitments, knowing full well that she is not the type to pilfer the public coffers while in office. But it was an unrelenting Rufai who insisted that Iweala must take the job inspite of those financial concerns. According to the FCT Minister "I told her you must do this, we will all do what we have to do, we must make Nigeria government work." The FCT Minister, who himself was yet to be named a Minister at that time said he told Okonjo-Iweala that she was key to a series of reform that needed to be put in place in the then new upcoming administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo. Rufai noted that inspite of his insistence, Iweala still said no, she can't accept the job. So the FCT Minister assured the then World Bank Vice President that the problem would be resolved. "So I went back to say to the President that she can't take the job." According to Rufai, a shocked Obasanjo retorted "What? He then narrated how he explained to the president that "you can't pay her," which according to him eventually led to the dollar denominated salary. Rufai said the UNDP fund was thus started so Okonjo-Iweala could be paid But this version of event simply cannot be true for the simple reason that Okonjo-Iweala herself long before the appointment and right up to a few days before this was announced made countless thinly veiled pitches for herself to be appointed! In fact, Mr Akande's report did make reference to the Nigerian Lawyers Association giving this same award to Okonjo-Iweala last year and anyone who read her acceptance speech in the context of the timing wouldn't need much convincing to see it as a preparatory speech for her taking over her post a few weeks later. More pointedly, in an interview she granted United World (for USA TODAY) just before the appointment was announced and published on the July 31 2003 edition of the paper, she was virtually begging to be appointed. Hear her: "We are not like many of the other African countries that do not yet have such a strong human resource base; we do and yet fail to make use of it. And our women, in particular, have very strong talents that are presently being under-utilized in this country and need to be mobilized. They are already doing very well in the private sector but in the public sector we need to get women more to the fore, because I think they are the critical answer to some of the huge challenges on government and corruption in this country. "I am not saying women are the magic bullet, but I think they can contribute, because they are known for their strength in terms of managing finance. This is not an issue, it is not an opinion. It is a fact that is based on studies that have been made, and it shows that where women are managing in terms of the financial sector and so on, things go well. They tend to do better. Thus I am saying it, a little bit of tongue in cheek, but I mean it that if you get the right type of women, professional and properly trained, into key positions in the public sector in terms of the Ministry of Finance, managing the budget, running the key enterprises in the economy, running infrastructure services, you are going to see a difference". Now, if the above isn't a lobby speech, I wonder what is! So, let's be clear about this - whether Okonjo-Iweala lobbied for the job or not, she got the job and ultimately accepted it. She has become the first Nigerian female Minister of Finance, as she'd hoped to be, which cannot be a bad thing at all! But the attempt by people like El-Rufai to create the impression that she had to be begged to take the job is an insult on the intelligence of discerning Nigerians. In fact, I find it nauseating when people say they accept public positions reluctantly, because if that were the case, it simply indicates that such a person is not prepared for the job and isn't convinced about their capability to perform as well! I'd rather prefer someone who wants the job because they believe they're up to it. Therefore, all this idea of someone accepting a job because they're doing us a favour is simply tosh and clearly quite irrelevant to the issue at hand. Mallam El-Rufai was lying through his teeth, because the evidence does not back up his fabled recollection above. In fact, from Obasanjo's own account of Okonjo-Iweala's recruitment, as related in The Punch of Tuesday, April 27, 2004, no mention was made of El-Rufai's account. The President's account was that it was the President of the World Bank that helped out in that regard, which is understandable because the World Bank were her employers. More repugnant is the idea that she was immediately there and then beginning to point out her financial commitments and how accepting the appointment wouldn't help her meet them. It was obvious from El-Rufai's statement that they knew what the pay was for the position of a minister; they couldn't have known this without getting the facts from the prevailing laws on salaries and allowances. So, that itself rules out the defence of ignorance of the law (though not that it would have done them much good). But rather than proceed to bring their dilemma before the National Assembly and propose a change to reflect what they want, El-Rufai, the President and whoever else joined them in this conspiracy proceeded to use the 'credibility' of the UNDP to pay her outside the dictates of the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by establishing the secret Nigerian Diaspora Trust Fund. Yes, El-Rufai clearly stated in that statement that the Fund was put in place to pay Okonjo-Iweala! Even Olu Adeniji's inclusion would appear to be an afterthought! Frankly, the more El-Rufai opens his mouth on this issue, the more he reveals the impunity that went on and the worse the government's case in support of the payments becomes. So, thanks to El-Rufai's display of self-importance; he's inadvertently now revealed that the Nigerian Diaspora Trust Fund was not set up to recruit Diaspora Nigerians, but to meet Mrs Okonjo-Iweala's financial needs. It was a case of them coldly resolving to break the law and break the bank to get her in, and, as an afterthought, put in Adeniji and a few others! That pretty much is clear from El-Rufai's speech. Apart from El-Rufai's lies and gaffes, there were some parts of the report that indicate clearly that Nigerians, both home and abroad continue to misunderstand the issues at stake. This was exemplified by the statement attributed to one New York based Nigerian Professor, Nimi Wariboko in Mr Akande's report.While the Professor insists that the President should have abided by the constitutional stipulations, he still thought it was an "unwise thing" to have such constitutional stipulation on salaries, wondering whether we would need to be amending the Constitution any time we want to change salary structure. Well, while on face value this argument seems sound, even if a little contradictory, the point is that the esteemed Professor is mixing up things (and that explains the contradiction). The Constitution does not fix the salaries and allowances of these officials, including the ministers; what it has done is to empower the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission(RMAFC) as a Section 153 (1) statutory body to exercise its power under Section 32 (d), Part 1, Third Schedule of the Constitution, which specifically mandates it 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 this Constitution". This is the only body granted such power in our laws, to the extent that it has the power to even determine the President's own salary as well, as evidenced in the constitutional provisions above. In other words, any of the officers mentioned in the Constitution for this purpose will have their remuneration determined by this body, from time to time and the body shall then take this decision to the National Assembly which then passes that decision into law. This was how we came about the Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, etc) Act No 6 2002, which specifically mentions the office of the Minister as entitled only to the sum of N794, 085 per annum as salary. After all, before 2002, we were paying ministers and we weren't paying the amount stipulated now, which means the dynamism was already in place and couldn't have been an issue at all. What this means is that as things change or as the need arises to increase these salaries in line with the times, the RMAFC will always consult with the relevant agencies, including the President and the Federal Executive to increase such salaries as the times demand and present same to the National Assembly to be passed as amendments. For instance, this is exactly what has been happening in India with its Salaries and Allowance of Ministers Act, 1952, which has been amended tens of times, the latest being on September 17, 2001. So, there was no case of a straightjacket constitutional entrapment in an unrealistic salary scale for any of the public officials mentioned within the Constitution, including ministers. All that was needed to meet any new needs was a simple amendment to the 2002 Act to reflect their present needs, as far as such proposed needs are lawful. In fact, it was reported that the Presidency actually consulted with the RMAFC, but that the body had problems buying the argument for these officers to be paid in dollars. And it doesn't need a rocket scientist to understand why. While the Act itself could have been amended to reflect a salary increase if need be (as I've pointed out above) it cannot be amended to single out some ministers for an upward review and more importantly to pay them in a non-Nigerian currency. There is more than a whiff of economic sabotage if that were to be accepted! Therefore, to circumvent the law and clearly in bad faith, the President and his people co-opted the UNDP into their conspiracy and came up with the Nigerian Diaspora Trust Fund - a fund essentially established to circumvent Nigerian laws to serve very selfish ends. Today, for acting that independently and lawfully, the RMAFC is suffering. The Finance Ministry in collaboration with the Presidency and the National Assembly (whose members are smarting from the fact that the RMAFC refuses to raise their own pay) have virtually cut off its funding in an attempt to make it impossible for the body, a statutory body for that matter, to work! Yes, this is our Nigeria and that is how we repay principle in public service! Furthermore, the Professor's argument that any person who plans not to steal public funds in office has the right to negotiate a competitive package is actually missing the point mainly because he failed to distinguish between the private sector and the public sector. In the public sector, there are rules and laws that govern emoluments and where it is the case that the salary of the office in question is named in the Constitution as to be determined by a statutory body (RMAFC) and to be fixed by Parliament by law, in this case through the Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, etc) Act No 6 2002, the question of negotiating a "competitive package" becomes otiose. You either accept it as it is or you reject it. You cannot negotiate away the law! You cannot even claim to accept this because the President pushed it on you, because in that case you would be joining him to break the law - a breach for which you're individually liable being the beneficiary of the unlawful act. The only condition under which a "competitive package" can be negotiated is if the office in question is not mentioned as covered under the prevailing laws. Thus, in this case, if Mrs Okonjo-Iweala and Ambassador Adeniji had been brought in, not as ministers (because the laws on remuneration specifically covers that) but as consultants, then no one would have a problem if the President pays them any amount, though they still wouldn't have been paid in dollars since they would technically still be civil servants in the period their consultancy contracts subsist. The truth of the matter is that all over the world salaries of cabinet ministers are established by law and change as the circumstances demand. Most countries nonetheless pay their cabinet level ministers the same, because they recognise that any form of discrimination may affect the spirit of collegiality and cabinet harmony, after all nobody wants to consciously build a Napoleon's Animal Farm in the name of running a nation (which is exactly what we have done in this case). Besides, it is obvious that people aren't expected to come into the cabinet to make money. Salaries vary from country to country, but largely they are the same for each group of cabinet members in each country. In the US, once you're a Cabinet Secretary, be you Rumsfeld, Snow or Tom Ridge, you receive $157, 000 as annual salary; in Indonesia, it is a basic $17,784; Malaysia, $43, 000; Thailand, $30, 000; New Zealand, $73, 477; the UK, £118,000; Taiwan, $71, 500 and Vietnam, a lowly $1, 350! And all these are fixed by law and paid in local currency, not foreign exchange! Don Evans as a successful oilman, John Snow from CSX Corporation, Rumsfeld from Gilead Sciences Inc and Anthony Principi from QTC Medical Sciences Inc (or Lockheed Martins IMS before then) are a few men earning millions of dollars in salary before joining George Bush's cabinet, but they certainly did not begin to complain that $157, 000 is chicken change upon being appointed! They also have children in Harvard and pay medical insurance and mortgages as well! In February this year, Robin Cook, former leader of the House of Commons (a cabinet rank position) was celebrating earning almost half a million pounds more, but it was not government pay - it was money earned from the sale of his memoirs, which he had to declare, as is customary, in the House of Commons official register of members. The point is in all the examples I've chosen, these are progressive economies in the developed and developing world and in spite of the disparity in pay from country to country, the principle of equal pay for cabinet members and as stipulated by law holds. The question of negotiating favourable or competitive pay does not arise because such pay is fixed by law. You either accept to serve based on what is available or you simply reject the offer if you think the statutory pay isn't up to scratch or wouldn't meet your needs. You don't begin to work with the President or some external agency to circumvent the law in the name of some unfathomable necessity. It is not a must that you must accept the job! Finally, let me address one of the most enduring myths in this dollar salary affair, which is the idea that the money paid to these ministers (and the other four mentioned but not named by the President) is not coming from our coffers and thus not a burden on Nigeria. This myth has persisted in the form of some saying the money isn't coming from us at all and some others saying very little is coming from us. It is the nature of the beast we are dealing with here that such simple information is not made available to Nigerians either by our government or the UNDP. For instance, on Saturday, March 13, 2004, The Punch carried a story titled, "UNDP speaks on ministers' dollar pay", in which the UNDP Country Representative, Mr Gettu Tegegnework tried to throw some light on the issue in response to the campaign that they should give more information on the Fund. He said the Fund was established eight months before (July, 2003, which conveniently was the time Okonjo-Iweala and Adeniji were appointed ministers). However, the key point in the explanation (supposedly contained in a UNDP "fact sheet") was that the UNDP is only a manager of the fund and not a contributor in any way: "The Fund is a joint endeavour by the government and its development partners, and is administered by UNDP to attract extraordinary Nigerians in the Diaspora to make a contribution in the economic reform program. "No UNDP-core or non-core resources are used for the Diaspora Trust Fund. The Fund is not part of the UNDP Country Program resources earmarked for Nigeria and no fund is diverted from our ongoing development program." Members of the administration who tried to also shed light on this included El-Rufai and Senator Ibrahim Mantu, his old enemy. El-Rufai in an advertorial in defence of the dollar salaries earlier published in the national press in the first week of March could only say that "the cost of paying the two ministers is mainly underwritten by the Multidonor Trust Fund". Like the UNDP, he didn't tell us who these donors are, how much they are putting in or how much the Federal Government is contributing to the Fund and how long this was to continue. These are things the Nigerian public and indeed the international community ought to be informed about if the parties are sincere about transparency and openness. However, Alhaji Mantu came up with what he termed "privileged" information. Hear him: "And, in case, there is a lot of misunderstanding, I was privileged to know that this money is not only coming from Nigeria. Indeed, there is a special account. The President said they went into agreement with UNDP and the body is paying more than 60 to 70 per cent. So Nigeria will just pay some kind of counterpart funding which is about 25 per cent of the whole amount."Now, ignoring Alhaji Mantu's fuzzy maths, his account that the UNDP is actually paying "more than 60 to 70 percent" of the Fund contradicts clearly the UNDP's claim that it is not putting anything into the Fund. It also questions the claims that there are other donors to the Fund besides the Federal Government (and if true, the UNDP itself). Alhaji Mantu's version would seem to tally generally with what the President himself said about the Fund in faraway Paris while addressing NIDO members in France, as reported in The Punch of Tuesday, April 27, 2004. Hear him: "UNDP has been very kind. They set up a global fund so that if we need such people on a term than just the time you can spare from your work we will easily reach them. And the UNDP has agreed to do a topping up so that they can be paid reasonably. "They have done about three or four for us in addition to the two ministers and it is good. It helps us to want to use their expertise and they can settle bills and relocate. "They can settle such things like school fees and all that. I just want you to know that this is working and it is already working." So, who is saying the truth here? Is it the UNDP which says it is only a manager and not putting anything in or is it Obasanjo who says they are paying? Of course, the difference in Obasanjo and Mantu's statements also can be implied from Obasanjo's claim that the UNDP is only doing a "topping up" (which implies it is only providing a small amount) and Mantu's claim to have heard from the President that the UNDP is putting in "more than 60 to 70 percent" (which must qualify as more than "topping up"). Besides, we are yet to hear from anyone, be they institutions or governments, claiming to be part of the Fund. The World Bank came out plainly to say it wasn't part of it; the IMF did not say it is part of it; no Western government or agency is saying it is part of it; so, who are these other donors the UNDP and our government aren't telling us about that are part of it? What all this shows is that we have not been told the truth yet. So, anyone who continues to believe that the money is not coming from our national coffers couldn't have based that belief on the 'explanations' tendered so far, whether by the UNDP Representative, the President, El-Rufai or Alhaji Mantu. That is why we're insisting that Mr Malloch Brown, the UNDP Administrator addresses this issue transparently. There is need for full disclosures from all parties. ________________________ Kennedy Emetulu London
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Posted by Robot| 09.11.2005 10:12