It probably was the best news [?] after slice bread, no… out of the Presidency last week. The news which came on the heels of the just concluded meeting between the President, the Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Commission, was to cheerfully announce the slashing of one of the numerous pecks that the ‘topmost of the top’ of officials of the FG have hitherto of the enjoyed.
The meeting broke to announce that the housing allowance currently being enjoyed by the President and his lucky Vice has been slashed by 50%. I don’t know how much this 50% cut amounts to, but we have every reason to be grateful [?] to the President for being graciously in touch with the current economic situation. It is very uncommon for public officials in Nigeria to willingly accept cuts in their salaries, allowances and other benefits – at least I have never heard of it until this current administration. They would usually advise us to tighten our belts while they loosen theirs, and feed fat off us. It would also be recalled that this same government had accepted a 10% reduction of their salary and emoluments earlier this year. They encouraged the various state and local governments to do the same. At least I remember Gbenga Daniel and his nude-oath-taking officials accepting to cut their pay in the early part of this year then I was living in his capital.
These measures viewed in light of the current economic recession – depression in Nigeria’s case because we have been in recession until now – ravaging the world calls for cheers to a government that is trying to be seen to be responsive and responsible to its people. You would also think they have taken these steps to reduce the burden that their fat pay places on our thin resources. Yes thin resources considering that the prices of crude oil has dropped from its high of $140 to the current $60 its trading in the international market and that local production has dropped from budgetary projections of about 2.2 million bpd to a little above 1 million bpd due to the rightful agitations of the Niger-Delta youths - I hate to call them militants. Why should they be so branded for asking for a taste of what is taken out of their backyard?
But this is as far as the cheers can go for those who accept what that meeting said without really thinking about it. Pray that I’m wrong on this because if I am, it’s for the good of our country. Here is why I’m saying this!
After this cut made the news, I watched the President advice the private sector to follow suit and emulate the government, but that was when I realized the stupidity – please pardon my use of that word – of the Presidents call. I doubt you realize what this allowance that the President was slashing is for! It’s a housing allowance for the President and his vice. Housing allowance for Mr. President and his Vice? I thought Mr. President and his Vice live in Aso Rock and Aguda or Defense house [whatever it is called these days] in the presidential villa respectively? Hey don’t be outraged! At least they spared us the detail of how much this allowance is.
Okay let’s look at this in the perspective of the private sector Mr. President talked about. Imagine – I said imagine oh! Hypothetically! – Mr. Femi Otedola hires a CEO for his new Otedola Cement & Gypsum Company Ltd – the one he wants to use to fight back Dangote. Femi’s company then provides the new CEO with a fully paid-for befitting mansion somewhere at Banana Island Ikoyi and still pays him housing allowance. That’s exactly what the President is doing living in our Aso Rock without paying rent, with 24/7 electricity supplied from generating sets running on diesel purchased with our money from his diesel-merchant-campaign-financier, eating our food and still collecting housing allowance. This is the scenario Mr. President wants the private sector to emulate.
I wonder if there is a specially researched and tested hand-over note every Nigerian leader receives that tells them that they can say whatever they like because the people won’t be listening, when they do listen, they don’t hear anything and when they hear, they won’t ask questions. They will simply swallow it hook, line and sinker, not because they have any atom of trust in their leaders, but because they are too docile to do anything. I had better quit wondering because it must be true.
Every news report you hear about pay or allowance cut by this government is a ruse. Let’s look again at the earlier 10% cut they allegedly accepted! They gleefully accepted a 10% cut after taking a huge pay rise last year. I think it was something in the range of three fold of the former pay. What has exactly changed from what this President is earning from what OBJ earned? I can’t tell exactly. What is he currently earning? How I wish I know. Oh! This will make a very good GMAT question. Let’s look at the question!
“If President Yar’Adua accepted - say - a 300% pay rise in 2008 and in 2009 took a 10% cut due to economic recession. In terms of percentage, what is he currently earning?”
The correct answer will earn you a VIP ticket to the Premier of the dance drama titled ‘Politics of nude-oath-taking’ performed by the respected Gbenga Daniel’s Theatre Company at the Valley View Auditorium, Isale Igbein, Abeokuta.
This is a classical case of projecting change while keeping things the same. If they really want us to believe that they mean to cut their pay, they should get rid of the 2008 pay rise and then slash it by 10% and totally stop taking housing allowance or move out of the Presidential villa. Instead of being true to us, this administration wants to use lip service and cosmetic changes to pull the wool back over our eyes. If what they are doing is not ‘the more you look, the less you see’, then I don’t know what it is. Sorry that does not add up because Nigerians are not actually looking. They are too busy trying to make progress instead of confronting that thing that is retarding their progress. Maybe they have not realized that as long as that thing remains, they will never make that progress. God help us in our struggles to make progress.
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