Fresh outrage has trailed the proposed upward review of salaries for political office holders by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), with the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) describing the move as “disappointing, insensitive and provocative”.
Speaking with newsmen, ACF National Publicity Secretary, Prof. Tukur Baba, warned that the plan was unjustifiable given the economic hardship across the country.
“It is disappointing: because, with the present state of the economy and the hardships faced by the populace, political office-holders are the least deserving of any pay increase, unless it in the direction of drastic reduction in their earnings,” he said.
Baba added that the move was “insensitive because it flies in the face of the current realities whereby about 60 percent of Nigerians suffer multi-dimensional poverty and over 75 percent of the population live on meagre incomes that cannot meet basic needs”.
According to him, the proposal is also “provocative because the average Nigerian already considers political office holders over-pampered”, warning that such action could “inflame passions and precipitate social unrest in a country where inequalities are widening and the middle class has nearly been wiped out”.
Meanwhile, at its 78th National Executive Committee meeting in Kaduna, ACF leaders also called for vigilance and unity in the North amid escalating insecurity, political treachery and environmental disasters.
Chairman of the Forum, Chief Mamman Osuman (SAN), urged northern leaders not to succumb to complacency or misinformation.
“This is not the time to sit on the fence or, like the Ostrich, hide its head in the sand under the delusive pretext that it sees nothing. We must remain united against imperfections, avarice, deceit and misdirection”, he said.
He noted that the North continues to reel from terrorism, banditry and natural disasters such as flooding, warning of the grave toll on human lives.
The NEC meeting was attended by prominent northern leaders, who later went into closed-door deliberations on regional unity, security challenges, and the planned silver jubilee of the Forum.
