The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has concluded arrangements to start the process of reviewing the remuneration of political, public and judicial office holders in the country.
The Chairman of the Commission, Mohammed Bello Shehu, gave this hint when he led a delegation of the commission’s management on a courtesy visit to the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, Gov. Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, in his office in Abuja.
He pointed out that the move was pursuant to the functions of RMAFC in Paragraph 32(D) of Part 1 to the Third schedule of 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, which empowered the Commission to determine the remuneration appropriate to political, public and judicial office holders in the country informing that the last time the review was carried out was 2008 which makes it even overdue for review.
In his remarks, Governor Tambuwal congratulated the new RMAFC’s chairman on his appointment, noting that the RMAFC has been underfunded over the years, thereby making it difficult for it to effectively discharge its constitutional mandate as it relates to the monitoring all the revenue accruals into federation account and other ancillary roles.
The NGF chairman explained that to enable the Commission to play its roles, it should rather be funded on a first line charge, adding that this will possibly help the Commission go into digital monitoring and tracking of all accruable revenues into the federation account, thereby increasing revenues for sharing among the three tiers of government.
Tambuwal further encouraged the RMAFC on its plan to commence the process for the review of remuneration exercise while pointing out that the salaries of judges particularly is one of the least in public service.
The RMAFC boss promised that the commission would complete the proposed review of remuneration exercise and produce a fair remuneration template for the affected officers before the end of the present administration.
