Nigeria: Testing the FOI Act 2011 on Legislator Salaries

An update: [October 6, 2011] The signed copy of the Freedom of Information Act 2011 can be downloaded from this link and it is provided courtesy of the Freedom of Information Coalition.

We have a Freedom of Information Act

With the signing of the Freedom of Information Act 2011 just as the end of the last legislative session by President Goodluck Jonathan, a milestone has been reached in the fledgling democratic experiment that Nigeria embarked on just 12 years ago.

The Enough is Enough organisation has posted a functionally legible copy of the Act here [1], it is however missing parts of Section 3 & 6 and all of Section 4 & 5 they provided a few highlights of the Act here [2], Funlayo Akinosi; a lawyer, writing for NigeriansTalk offers a useful perspective of the Act here [3].

Versions and some confusion

For the purposes of this blog, because of the missing bits which are germane to the series of points made, I will be using the harmonised version [4] of the Bill as provided by the Enough is Enough organisation, the differences between the Act and the Bill being the former having the force of law; Section 1 of the Bill does not appear in the Act, all thereby forcing a renumbering of all the Sections and the sub-sections follow a different multi-level numbering system.

The text of both the Act and the Bill remain functionally the same in terms of context and import but the Act clearly delineates lists better than the Bill.

Another version [4a] as provided by House of Representatives substitutes Act for Bill and looks very much like the harmonised Bill used in this blog and sourced from a link provided by Egghead Odewale.

Whilst the Act does make good reading along with the superfluity of legalese that would have lawyers raking in the dosh like it is going out of fashion, the presence of a set of rules, procedures, processes and guidelines to ensure Nigerians demand more openness in government and its operations is very welcome.

Does it work?

The next step is to prove that this Act is useable, enforceable and fit for its purpose and no better test of its pervasiveness can be conducted than to determine with clarity, fact and truth the true cost of our democracy.

Too many times, we, the people have been shielded from knowing in true terms how much our legislators earn and what additional allowances [5] they have on top of their salaries as they supposedly serve the people.

The Freedom of Information Act 2011 provides for a number of interesting uses to arrive at this important piece of democratic emancipation such that we can judge if the allowances are justifiable, if our democracy is exorbitant [6] and what percentage of the federal budget overhead [7] the legislature consumes.

An application for such information can be made to the Clerk of the National Assembly, unfortunately, their website is a mess; hopefully, with the needs to properly document records for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act, the websites of government establishments will be improved upon, updated regularly and promptly too.

The lay of the land

The National Assembly comprising the Senate and House of Representatives make up the federal legislature and it is thereby a public institution by reason of Section 3, sub-section 7 of the Bill.

A record of all names, salaries, titles and dates of employment of all employees is mandated by the Bill in Section 3, sub-section (3)(j).

Section 2 provides for the right of access to records without having to demonstrate any specific interest and Section 4 supports the right to request access to these records.

Section 5 requires that the information be made available within 7 days of making an application for the information, there should be no reason to transfer the request to another department as stated in Section 6 of the Bill and where that information cannot be provided the reasons for denial must be made with all the essential detail according to Section 8 or the public institution may extend the time required to provide the information according to Section 7.

Compelling public interest

The matter of legislator salaries and allowances are not sub judice, even if under review, salaries are being paid as set by the precedence of the previous legislative term and that should suffice and the information updated when available.

Hence, the public institution cannot find refuge in exceptions for law enforcement and investigation in Section 13 nor exception of personal information in Section 15.

The request in broad terms is to ascertain legislator salaries as in what a member of the House of Representatives or a Senator earns, tagged unto that without mentioning names, what emoluments and remuneration go to the principal offices of the National Assembly with particular reference to the offices as opposed to the person occupying the office.

It is important that legalese and abstruse interpretation is not used trammel access to what is public interest information where the public interest in the real cost of our democracy far outweighs the concerns of the legislature who are for all intents and purposes in public service and thereby employees of the people.

The Bill places the burden of proof on the public institution to provide the reasonable grounds for denying access to such information as delineated in Section 26.

Let it be tested

If this information is already publicly available then Section 27 suggests that this bill does not cover such as request and Section 29 informs that such a request cannot gain refuge within the Official Secrets Act.

In conclusion, a simple request for the running cost of our legislature should not encounter any difficulties; it should be documented, available, accessible and provided in the public interest and promotion of democracy – that will be the test of whether the Freedom of Information Act 2011 is worth the paper it is written on.

Sources

[1] Scanned copy of the Freedom of Information Act 2011 as a PDF file signed by the Clerk of the Nation Assembly.

[2] Highlights of Freedom of Information Act 2011

[3] NigeriansTalk | Freedom of Information Act 2011: Good Stuff!

[4] Harmonised version of the Freedom of Information Bill, 2011

[4a] Freedom of Information Act 2011 – House of Representatives

[5] Nigeria: Percentage Allowance Legislators

[6] Nigeria: Our exorbitant government

[7] Nigeria: Sanusi a worthy Nigerian

Nigeria: Percentage Allowance Legislators

Note: The original graphic in this blog has been lost and the link to the article which I originally sourced from the Punch newspaper is unfortunately dead. The point this blog makes is that legislators take away 1,260% of their basic salary in allowances for cars, clothes, entertainment, newspapers, holiday pay, accommodation and much else.

Allowances by huge percentages

The salary that goes with the plumiest job in the world has taken on rockets and flown right into the stratosphere. Over 4 years some people would be on this Orient Express gravy train living large in such opulence that is way beyond the dreams of their constituents.

Our lawmakers in the Nigerian National Assembly would be able to claim allowances equivalent to 1,000% of their annual basic salary possibly tax free as allowances to seek accommodation, furnish their accommodation, buy a vehicle and be dressed up to the nines.

Dress the legislator

Before we get to the figures, it is interesting that they are concerned about such minutiae as their wardrobe which for men would be flowing gowns 10 times the size of the wearer.

In a throwback to the colonial days of the District Officer they would have domestic staff that would include a steward, a cook, a housekeeper and a gardener.

They also get paid for being on recess and we can assume there are two recesses in a legislative year and we also pay for their newspapers.

Missing some essentials?

However, I think for legislators, a good deal of the important things necessary to be a legislator in the West are missing and I suppose that is because our legislators who would be walking on cloud 20 are not necessarily representatives of any constituency.

In the expenses scandals that have bothered UK Members of Parliament, one gleaned that a legislator usually requires an office, a secretary and possibly an office administrator, a number of researchers and usually a number of trips to manage constituency matters – I see no allowances that cover those aspects.

My suspicion is, beyond these allowances they would still be able to claim additional expenses to cover these matters along with a chauffeur for the executive vehicle.

Nice job, if you can get it

I know not of any job anywhere that offers this kind of largesse, ordinary people are usually supposed to pay for all these things out of their basic salaries.

It would be different if the legislators really get down to doing stuff that helps build Nigeria but with them fed and fattened to the extent that they would not be able to get out of their opulent furniture to walk through the widest doors on earth, this would be gravy-train par excellence and it grates.

Hike linked to inflation?

One cannot say why the total salary bill for our national politicians has been hiked by 31.67% from NGN 41 billion to NGN 60 billion because there has to be some economic sense to flooding the economy with an additional NGN 19 billion for work that is not even in any productive sector of the economy.

It might be that the legislators know something we do not, which is inflation in Nigeria is running at over 30% and really everyone should be irresponsibly be given a salary raise commensurate with the level of inflation.

Now we can look at the figures, over 4 years; a senator would earn NGN 2 million per annum plus the 1,260% in allowances that is NGN 8 million plus 12.6 times the annual salary (NGN 25.2 million), this would all come to NGN 33.2 million or $277,638.

Not representative at all

It might look small, but this is in a country where according to the World Bank, 90% of the population lives on less than $2/day which when summed up comes to $2,920 if the person did make $2 for every single day for four years.

It is then no surprise that electioneering is a fight to the death because there are few jobs that pay like this without extensive influence peddling.

The multiplier effect of the percentage allowance scheme is quite instructive because from another perspective it shows the multiples of ones salary required in getting these basic needs and hopefully the numbers were not just plucked out of the air.

Welcome to the plumiest job on earth, being a Nigerian legislator.