Habeeb I. Pindiga
13 July 2009
Abuja — Chairmen of the nation's 774 local government areas, their deputies, supervisory councillors and non-supervisory councillors will collect a total of N17 billion in salaries and regular allowances every year, according to the reviewed remuneration packages of public officers.
The new packages were drawn by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) on the prompting of President Umaru Yar'adua, who asked the commission to reduce the remuneration of public officers given the nation's falling revenues.
Details of the new pay packages of local government officials, which were submitted to the state Houses of Assembly across the country last week, show that the 774 chairmen of local governments will take a total of N1.27 billion every year, vice chairmen will collect N1.12 billion while supervisory councillors will receive N4.7 billion in basic salaries and regular allowances every year. Each local government has five supervisory councillors appointed by the chairman.
The 8,540 councillors, who make up the legislative arm of the local government councils, will receive a total of N9.74 billion, while the legislative leaders and their deputies will collect N1.98 billion a year.
The regular allowances of the chairmen, their deputies and non-supervisory councillors are accommodation, domestic staff, utilities, leave and constituency. The supervisory councillors collect these allowances except constituency.
Based on the new reduced packages, every year each chairman will receive N1.63 million, vice chairman N1.45 million, supervisory councillor N1.21 million and councillor N1.14 million as basic salaries and regular allowances. Compared to the former pay packages of the officials, the new remuneration means every year each chairman suffers a cut of N2.43 million, a vice chairman N2.37 million, a supervisory councillor N2.2 million and a councillor loses N2.4 million.
Besides the regular allowances, the officials are entitled non-regular allowances--furniture, accommodation, duty tour allowance, estacode and severance gratuity--as certain percentages of their basic salaries.
The pay packages of the local government executive officials are subject to approval by the state Houses of Assembly, though the assemblies only have powers to reduce but not increase the proposals drawn by RMAFC. But the commission's proposals regarding the remuneration of local government councillors are final according to provisions of the constitution.
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