Stories by David Agba
Abuja
The Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has noted with dismay the deluge of false and misleading media reports and the attendant barrage of criticisms especially by some public affairs commentators and otherwise well-respected columnists concerning the pension benefits and other related matters for political, public and judicial office holders in Nigeria.
This was contained in a statement signed by the Head, Public Relations of the commission, Ibrahim Mohammed, yesterday in Abuja.
According to him, “Surprisingly, these spurious claims were coming from people who ordinarily should have been conversant with the provision of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (As Amended) with respect to pension benefits, and Constitutional mandate of the RMAFC. The said reports further quoted RMAFC as source.
Consequently, the Commission considers it most appropriate and necessary to provide some clarifications on the vexatious issue to avoid misinformation and misrepresentation of facts capable of misleading citizens and members of the international community.
“To start with, the issue of pension for the President, Vice President, Governors and their Deputies respectively is strictly a Constitutional matter. The RMAFC has never recommended pension for them as it is not within its purview. The pension for Mr.
President and the Vice President as provided in Section (84)(5) of the 1999 Constitution states that, “Any person who has held office as President or Vice-President shall be entitled to pension for life at a rate equivalent to the annual salary of the incumbent President or Vice-President: Provided that such a person was not removed from office by the process of impeachment or for breach of any provisions of this Constitution, while any pension granted by virtue of subsection (5) of this section shall be a charge upon the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation.
In the same vein, Section (124) (5) stipulates that,
“Provisions may be made by a Law of a House of Assembly for the grant of a pension or gratuity to or in respect of a person who had held office as Governor or Deputy Governor and was not removed from office as a result of impeachment; and any pension granted by virtue of any provisions made in pursuance of this subsection shall be a charge upon the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the State”.
From the foregoing therefore, it is crystal clear that the Commission is not constitutionally empowered to delve into matters of pension for Political Public and Judicial Office Holders as wrongly imputed in the said reports.
The Commission has equally noted a general tendency on the part of some Commentators to mischievously lump all allowances and salaries together as monthly salary.
He noted that the Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders Salaries and Allowances etc, (Amendment) Act of 2008, states the actual amount being paid to legislators and other public officers.
Mohammed said it is, wrong and misleading to add up allowances irrespective of whether they are regular, refundable or non-regular, as the regular annual emoluments of political and public office holders.
