The ministers don’t really care about you

THISDAY newspaper reported, last week, that some ministers were stranded in Abuja. These ministers appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to raise their housing allowance from the N4 million (£13,900), which is the amount approved by law for annual housing allowance, to N20 million (£69,700). They argue that the present N4 million approved by Buhari cannot rent a decent mansion in Abuja. Please note that what these ministers are asking for is three times what MPs, their counterparts in the UK, receive as housing allowance.

Investigation shows that renting a prime property, in a nice location in Abuja, would put a hole of about 10 to 15 million naira in your pocket annually. Some good companies even rent these properties for their chief executives.  Truth be told, ministers, in a poor country like Nigeria that is still struggling with basic infrastructure and amenities, have no business in such properties. Besides, one way to tame rents in Abuja would be by cutting allowances of ministers and by reducing corruption. Those rents are abnormal because some people can afford them with some unjustifiable income.

They argue that N4 million cannot get you a proper house, but can only get you a flat in decent locations in Abuja. And flats, where other tenets might live as well, might pose a security threat. Really? But, they claim that some of them have been living in dingy hotels and squatting with friends, so far. If they had not had any security issues living with friends and in dingy hotels, I wonder which kind of security issue they might have living in luxury flats in Abuja.

I am not sure anyone who pays N4 million as rent is a poor person in Nigeria. But, this not even the point I wish to make here. In the UK, some MPs, who are ministers and have their constituencies outside London, live in small flats in London. But, our ministers claim that living in luxury flats would not augur well, especially when they have to host foreign dignitaries. Have they bothered to ask themselves how these foreign dignitaries see them when they live like kings at the expense of poor people?  Even the UK, a rich country, cannot afford such luxuries for its ministers.

I can bet you most of these ministers own houses in Abuja. Some even have properties they have rented out in Abuja. Collecting extra N20 million as housing allowance is the highest form of insensitivity. For a poor country that does not have decent hospitals, this is the highest form of insensitivity. But, they don’t really think like I am thinking. Some have future political ambitions, so they need more money. Besides, their hangers-on need to be maintained. They really need cash, no doubt. But, is it going to be at the expense of the very poor citizens?

Permit me to use the word tax payers’ money to refer to the money allocated for housing for our ministers – since the bulk of our budget will now be funded by VATs and other government taxes.

We used to have accommodations for top public servants but they have all been sold out to previous public servants. Some have put out these houses for rent at exorbitant prices. If government manages to build these kind of accommodations in future, with tax payers’ money, a law should be enacted to prevent successive governments from selling them. The cost of continually paying for accommodation for ministers is huge.

Let’s look at other allowance that come with living in a rented mansion. Note that furniture allowance is a direct function, as it were, of housing allowance. It will also go up if Buhari approves a N20 million housing allowance. You cannot furnish a N20 million mansion with what was approved for a N4 million accommodation.

If we analyze what it will take to maintain a rented N20 million house as against what it will take to maintain a rented N4 million house, you would observe that tax payer’s money would be literally set on fire.

The question Nigerians should ask these ministers is how was the N4 million housing allowance computed in the first place by the allocation and fiscal commission, RMAFC. If you change the formula for ministers, then you have to change it across board for all civil and public servants. This is not possible because the country is broke.

Don’t get me wrong, some of these ministers deserve to live in mansions, but not with tax payers’ money. A professor in a Nigerian University hardly earns up to N4 million naira annually. This is inclusive of the professor’s housing allowance. Besides what is the average salary of the tax payers, who are paying for these mansions for our ministers?

Government has been telling us that they know things are hard and that we should endure. No one will believe them if they continue asking for exorbitant allowances. I am sure you know that there are other allowances apart from their salaries they receive. They should lead by example.

I understand Buhari has been dragging his foot. He is not really comfortable reviewing the allowance from N4 million to N20 million. But, he would likely bulge in the end. No one likes this kind of pressure from his appointees.

Well, I know the ministers are likely to get some increment at the end of the day. But, it should not be more than half of what they are asking for. Ministers, in a poor country, should have sympathy for its poor and hungry citizens. They should show that they care. They shouldn’t copy the lifestyles of some of our governors. I am still struggling to believe that they care about us.