The Executive Chairman, Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Mohammed Shehu, has said the monthly salary of the Nigerian President currently stands at N1.2 million, while that of Governors is pegged at N1.1 million.
He said President-elect, Bola Tinubu, would earn the same package unless the proposed review of the Remuneration Act for elected and designated public officials designed by RMAFC is passed into law before President Muhamamdu Buhari administration winds down on May 29.
Shehu said some heads of Federal Government agencies earn higher monthly salaries than the president and governors. He noted that no public servant ought to earn higher than the president or state governors.
He made these disclosures in Abuja at the Economic Confidential public lecture and book presentation themed “Economic diversification in an evolving cashless society” organized by Economic Confidential, Publishers of PR Nigeria and Economy Digest. Two books were unveiled at the occasion- Pantami: Trials & Triumphs Digital Economy Maestro and The eNarial Revolution.
The RMAFC Chairman said: “The salary of Mr. President is N1.2 million a month. I’m sure some MDAs heads earn N5million and some N2 million a month. No public servant in Nigeria should earn more than Mr. President and the governor of a state. Elected National Assembly members earn N12 million and N8million respectively. All those monies some people alluded to are not their salary. They have operational costs and other expenses added to it. These monies were put into it by the National Assembly as logistics and they are paid from the system. We don’t have the power to checkmate that. Only the Nigerian public can challenge that.”
He recalled that the salaries of political office holders and other designated public and judicial office holders were last reviewed in 2008, emphasizing that the exercise was overdue for review.
He said revenue from solid minerals is now being shared while 13 percent derivation is paid to solid minerals producing states as is the case with oil producing states.