The Chairman, National Human Rights Commission, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, says although President Muhammadu Buhari’s 50 per cent pay cut in his salary is commendable, the President lacks the power to do so.
Odinkalu, who spoke during a programme on Channels Television, Politics Today, monitored by our correspondent, noted that no law in Nigeria allows any elected public official to slash his salary.
He maintained that only the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission was empowered to do so.
Odinkalu advised the President and state governors who announced a pay cut in their salaries to take their full salaries and then donate 50 per cent of it to the government through a regulated process that would ensure accountability.
He said, “This idea of the governors, president and vice-president slashing their salaries is alluring and I think many people would welcome it but I will also suggest caution. There is supposed to be a process here. The salaries of governors were not set by them. They actually don’t have the power under the law to cut their own salaries. That should be done by the Revenue Allocation Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission.
“The President cannot say, I cut my salary. No. He has no such power. There is no law in Nigeria that empowers the president to do that. There is also no law that empowers any governor in Nigeria to say, I cut my salary.
“What should happen is this, they can collect their salaries and decide to donate 50 per cent of it back to the state. To do that, we need a system to be able to use that money for the public purpose. Let’s not in the name of populism do something that is not authorised by the law because a democratic system is a system of law.
“We do not ask governors and the President to do things that the law does not ask them to do. I am quite clear about this. I have looked into the matter and found out that no governor or president has power to reduce their salaries by 50 per cent.”
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