JONATHAN EARNS N1M MONTHLY
With the authentic figures by the RMAFC, it means the four-year tenure of Mr. President will fetch him a total of N56m in salaries and allowances.
A table of the emoluments of all political office holders in the nation and those of judiciary made available at the commission's website listed the figures.
With this revelation of what used to inhabit the realm of conjecture and secrecy, RMAFC must have laid to rest the argument on how much is spent on the members of the National Assembly (NASS) for instance, or elicited another season of hairsplitting.
The question of the earnings of the members of the NASS has been a vexed issue for a long time that towards the end of the Sixth NASS, the members earned recrimination and name calling for sitting on the wealth of the nation to the exclusion of other citizens. The matter remained at the front burner especially after the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria in a public lecture dropped a claim that the NASS spends about 25 percent of the overhead of the federal budget.
Saturday Sun's access of the RMAFC site revealed the earnings of other top officers of the state as well. That also includes the details that the number two citizen, Mr. Vice President earns a take home of N12.12m per annum or N48.48m for the four years he will be in office.
Similarly, the Senate President earns, from RMAFC approvals, about N8.7m per annum or a monthly gross emolument of N724,570.73. The Deputy Senate President earns a little less with a total package of N8.08m in a year or N673,506.97 at the end of every month.
But you can easily see what looks like a discrepancy in the earnings of these major senatorial officers and others inferior to them. Every other senator earns N12,766,320 annually or a monthly take of N1,063,860. With that package, a senator earns more than the Vice President. That means it is more lucrative to be a senator than answer the VP. The commission has explanation for that. It is because most of the allowances for principal officers of the senate and other bodies come in kind whereas the rest get theirs in cash.
The second wing of the NASS had its emoluments also published by the commission, and indicated that the Speaker of the House takes home N4.95m in a year or N412,851 per month, as his deputy earns N4.574m in a year and N381,172.38 per month.
The rest of the members of the House are paid N9.529m annually or a breakdown of N794,085 in a month.
The principal officers of the NASS earn higher than the ordinary members and also the two chief officers.
If you have a relation that was appointed a minister and you took out advertorials congratulating him or rolled out the red carpet in celebration, you might not get much in return for the investment. RMAFC revealed in its table of emoluments that a minister, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Head of Service earn a paltry N2.02m in a year as basic salary or a total emolument of N7.801m with a monthly take of N650,136.67. So with about 40 ministers in Jonathan's cabinet, the nation spends about N312.4m on their salaries in a year or N1.248b in the four-year tenure.
However, the presidents special advisers and others enjoy a package of a basic N1.942m in a year or a gross pay of N7.091m with a breakdown sum of N590,957.81 total monthly salary with the allowances.
RMAFC indicated that the pay listed here is not inclusive of what it called 'non-regular allowances'. These include the controversial furniture allowance that comes once in four years, accommodation, annual leave, severance gratuity, vehicle loan indicated as optional, duty tour and estacode per night. The rest of the allowances are denominated in naira with the exception of estacodes that come in US dollars.
With the 20 Special Advisers recently approved for Mr. President as part of his team two weeks ago, the state will cough out N141.830m to pay them in a year or N567,319,496m in the four years the tenure will last.
The RMAFC chart also included senior judicial officers from the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Supreme Court justices, justices of the Court of Appeal, the Federal High Court judges, state High Court judges and the chief judges of the state and the federal high courts.
The CJN earns N6.727m gross annual income and N560,662.08 in a month, whereas other Supreme Court Justices and the President of the Court of Appeal labour for a package of N10,899,284 and a monthly pay of N908,273.67.
Before you take all these figures as absolute truth or make disputations, there is a caveat or a proviso the RMAFC left for Nigerians.
It explained in its posting that 'any other salaries, allowances or others being enjoyed by any political or public office holder outside those provided by the law or determined by the Commission from time to time in accordance with the constitution, are not known to the Commission.'
RMAFC also urged anti-corruption agencies, the police and other enforcers of the ethics of good governance to hold accountable the relevant accounting officer that made such extra-statutory emolument available to the officer.