Sophia Michaels
Alhaji Yerima Shettima, the President of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF), has called on the Federal government to slash the monthly salaries of Nigerian Senators, including their allowances to two or at least one million.
The AYCF leader said Nigerians are suffering in this current economy, and it is very important to cut down on the cost of governance in the country.
Shettima said there is a need for government officials to stop making more demands to the detriment of the masses, among other issues.
Naija Nicki swift reports that the AYCF president noted this during a recent interview where he was asked to speak on what the Federal Government should have done before fuel subsidy removal, which has brought untold hardship to many Nigerians.
“The Federal Government should have looked at the issue of the refineries. The refineries should have been functional first. The last administration came up with this agenda of declaring a state of emergency to put up the refineries but that never came to fruition. That is step one. Step two; They should look into the issue of minimum wage of the workers. Critically, I do not think a reasonable person would have imagined that N50,000 would be enough to cater to the needs of any worker in this country today. They should have done better than that. The government should have begun to think of ways to put up a policy that would be of benefit to Nigerian workers,” Shettima told The PUNCH.
The AYF leader berated National Assembly members for consistent demands instead of making more sacrifices, as many Nigerians are doing amid the current economy.
Shettima acknowledged that the current economic crisis in the country is a global problem that everybody should have to make sacrifices. He, however, has a problem with the fact that it is only the common man who is making the sacrifices and not government officials.
“Why should Nigerians alone make the sacrifice without those in government? From all indications, you can see that even the National Assembly members are demanding more and more on a daily basis. None of them are making any effort within the levels of the legislature and executive arms of government.
There is no sign of them making sacrifices about anything. Why should the masses be the only ones to make sacrifices? So, let the legislative and executive arms begin to lead by example.
“Let us begin to see that the convoy of 50 to 60 cars by governors is reduced to maybe between five and six. I don’t understand this convoy they carry along at the expense of the taxpayers’ monies. They should reduce it. Let us begin to see the massive convoy on the President’s fleet also reduced. Then, let us begin the see or hear the National Assembly, reducing the bogus allowances they collect and cut it down to a quarter.
These are people taking home more than N12m per month. Let them reduce it to N1m or N2m. That’s sacrifice, and not when they look at the faces of Nigerians just because they want to abuse their sensibility, they will come up with the idea of the common language of blackmailing Nigerians that it is time to make sacrifice. Why should the common man make sacrifices when the legislators are not willing to also make sacrifices? Whose interest are they protecting at the National Assembly? So, these are some of the things that I expect them to begin to do to encourage Nigerians to say ‘Yes, this is a critical period that all hands must be on deck because it takes two to tango,” the AYCF leader stressed.
Recalls that there was outrage recently after Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, made a gaffe and announced on live television that senators would receive some ‘tokens’ in their account to enjoy their recess.
Akpabio was immediately called to order by his colleagues as he withdrew the statement saying they would get a goodwill message in their emails for them to enjoy their holiday.
Many Nigerians believed the word token to mean money.
