SERAP, 1,522 Nigerians, BudgIT, EiE oppose NASSN4.68bn ‘welcome package’ 

The yet to be inaugurated ninth National Assembly has been thrown into turmoil over the financial luxury of N4.68 million awaiting the lawmakers as “welcome allowance” even when they have performed no duty.National Daily gathered from Nigerians of goodwill that the proposed N4.68 billion welcome allowance to be shared among the 469 federal lawmakers sends a st5rong signal that members of the Ninth National Assembly   are going there for personal financial gains and not for service delivery to Nigerians.

Meanwhile, over 1,500 concerned Nigerians, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), BudgIT and Enough is Enough Nigeria (EiE) have opposed the sharing of the N4.68 billion to the 469 federal lawmakers. The stakeholders in the Nigerian project further filed a lawsuit asking the Federal High Court to “restrain, prevent and stop the National Assembly Service Commission from paying the incoming members of the Ninth National Assembly, individually and/or collectively, over N4.68 billion as ‘welcome package’.”

SERAP, BudgIT and EiE, suing for themselves and on behalf of 1,522 concerned Nigerians, argued that: “The Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has failed to do any downward review of salaries and allowances of members of the National Assembly since 2007 in spite of the economic downturn in Nigeria. Yet, the commission is statutorily required to review the pay of the lawmakers, in conformity with the country’s economic realities and to achieve fiscal efficiency.”

In the suit numberFHC/L/CS/943/2019 filed last Friday before the Federal High Court in Lagos, the plaintiffs contended: “Given many years of extreme poverty in the country, and the inability of several state governments to pay salaries of workers and pensions, the refusal or failure of the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission to review and cut the salaries and allowances of members of the National Assembly is a gross violation of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended) and the commission’s own Act.”

Joined as defendants in the suit are the Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, National Assembly Service Commission and Revenue Mobilization       Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).

The plaintiffs also argued that: “The duty of the RMAFC to review the salaries and allowances of members of the National Assembly is mandatory and the Commission cannot choose not to comply. Therefore, the failure or refusal by the Commission to comply with its own Act amounts to arbitrariness.”

The suit read in part: “Unless the reliefs sought by the plaintiffs are granted, the defendants and members of the National Assembly will continue to benefit from these outrageous salaries and allowances, in breach of the law and at the expense of millions of Nigerians living in extreme poverty.

“The amounts budgeted as payment for furniture and accommodation allowance to members of the 9^th National Assembly negates the oath of office under the Seventh Schedule of the 1999 Constitution by members to perform their functions in the interest of the well-being and prosperity of Nigeria.

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“The National Assembly comprises of 469 members – with 109 in the Senate and 360 in the House of Representatives. These public officers form a very tiny percentage of about 200 million Nigerians. Members are still eligible to collect huge sums of money as monthly allowances and severance pay at the end of their respective terms.

“The RMAFC is required to advise the Federal, State and Local Governments on fiscal efficiency and methods by which their revenue is to be increased. Prescribing N9,926,062.5 and N10,132,000:00 to members of the House of Representatives and Senate respectively, as furniture and accommodation allowance, is not in tandem with the Commission’s statutory mandate and advisory roles on fiscal efficiency.

“The action of members of the National Assembly in ‘rubber-stamping’ the passage of the Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders [Salaries and Allowances] [Amendments] Act 2008 is also in clear breach of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers, particularly paragraph 1 of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers which provides that ‘a public officer shall not put himself in a position where his personal interest conflicts with his duties and responsibilities’.

“It can be inferred that in passing the Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders [Salaries and Allowances] [Amendments] Act 2008, members of the National Assembly more or less appropriated these payments as allowance to themselves, thereby bringing about conflict of their personal interests with national interest of fiscal efficiency, a conflict eventually resolved in favour of personal interest.

“Section 70 of the Nigerian Constitution provides that a member of the Senate or the House of Representatives shall receive such salary and other allowances as the RMAFC may determine.

“The initial statute regulating the pay and allowances of members of the National Assembly was the Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders [Salaries and Allowances] Act 2002, which was amended in 2007. The Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders [Amendments] Act 2008 prescribed the current pay and allowances of members of the National Assembly.”

The plaintiffs therefore are seeking the following reliefs from the court:

1.    A DECLARATIONt that the sum of N10,132,000:00 and N9,926,062.5 allotted to each Senator and Member of the House of Representatives respectively as furniture and accommodation allowance is in breach of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers [Fifth Schedule Part 1] of the Constitution of Nigeria 1999, oath of office [Seventh Schedule] of the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 and Section 6[1] of the RMAFC Act 2004.

2.    A DECLARATION that the prescription of the sum of N10,132,000:00 and N9,926,062.5 for each Senator and Member of the House of Representatives respectively as furniture and accommodation allowance by the Revenue Allocation Mobilization and Fiscal Commission is in breach of Section 70 of the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 and Section 6[1][b][c][d] of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission Act 2004.

3.    AN ORDER compelling the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission to review and reduce the amount prescribed for each Senator and Member of the House of Representatives respectively as furniture and accommodation allowance in accordance with Section 6[1] of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission Act 2004.

4.    AN ORDER restraining, preventing and stopping the National Assembly Service Commission from paying the sum of N10,132,000:00 and N9,926,062.5  to each Senator and Member of the House of Representatives respectively as furniture and accommodation allowance until the downward review of the pay and allowances of the members of the 1st and 2nd Defendants by the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission.

5.    AN ORDER restraining preventing and stopping all members of the Senate and the House of Representatives from collecting or demanding the sum of N10,132,000:00 and N9,926,062.5 as furniture and accommodation allowance due to each Senator and Member of the House of Representatives respectively until the downward review of the pay and allowances of the members of the 1st and 2nd Defendants by the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission.

6.    ANY ORDER(S)that the Court may deem fit to make in the circumstance of this suit.

No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.