BUHARIS MINISTERS SALARY SCALE AND WHAT IT SEEKS TO ACHIEVE

Without equivocation let me say the new salary scale drawn out by Buhari for the ministers came not only as a surprise to the Ministers but also to Nigerians. It seems not to be business as usual where a big pay check follows the minister’s portfolio. The new minister’s salary scale met different reactions from the good people of Nigeria; some are in perfect concordance with Buhari on this while some labeled the action of Buhari as an attempt to ridicule the Ministers. Annually the substantive minister will earn two million, twenty six thousand, four hundred naira, that is roughly one hundred and sixty eight thousand, six hundred and sixty six naira, six hundred and sixty six kobo per month, while minister of state will get one million, eight hundred thousand naira per annum at one hundred and fifty naira per month with a further restriction of compulsory permission from the president should any of the minister intends to travel outside Abuja. The salary scale and the condition of work seem very harsh but is this not the country we have been yearning for, where discipline will trickle down from the leaders to the followers. A leader who is not discipline cannot inspire same on his followers. And for those kicking the air on the salary scale, the ministers have displayed that they are patriotic Nigeria during their screening ready to work for free if need be, in other to get Nigeria out of this epileptic state. Now this is the time to walk their talk, so there should not be any grouse with the current condition of work. WHAT BUHARU SEEKS TO ACHIEVE This latest development has once again re-- affirm the stance that our president knows ecactly what Nigeria’s problem is and he is committed to tackle it not minding whose Horse is gore. In my own view one of the problem of Nigeria is not what to do but how to do it. Bearing that in mind the latest action of Buhari seeks to achieve the following: (1) DISCIPLINE As a former military head of state, PMB understands the importance of discipline in the life of a public servant, especially those saddled with the responsibilities of that of the ministers. He understands that the best way to teach Is not only through the words of the mouth but through examples the could be conspicuously seen and that once the head is straight the rest of the body will adjust; once the leaders are disciplined, same will trickled down to the followers as a no nonsense attitudinal leader will inspire same on the follower and once the issue of discipline can be solved in Nigeria, 60% of our problem is gone. (2) THE GAP BETWEEN THE RICH AND THE POOR Any country where the gap between the rich and the poor is immeasurable wide cannot be free from social unrest crime and the likes. Any nation where wealth is concentrated in the hands of the few while the majority live at the mercy of those few inspires hate and cannot enjoy tranquility. PMB must have understood this fact and he has pragmatically deal with it, with first slashing his, and his deputy’s salary by half, appealed to the senator to do same and now the same thing is done to the Ministers. I believe it’s not only me that’s giving a sigh of relief on this; sanity is slowly crawling in. EFFECT Since it is impossible for PMB to dictate to the minister on how to live their lives and what should as a matter of necessity be given to their children, with the new salary scale the extravagant and ostentatious life at the expense of the masses will soon be a thing of the past. Now the act of indifferent on the part of the ministers with regards to our ever deteriorating infrastructure in all sectors of the economy will receive a good attention from them. As a matter of fact, if their annual salary can no more sponsor their kids to the most expensive school in the United State or United Kingdom or to receive the most sophisticated medical treatment in same or anywhere, they will adequately tailor whatever resources put in their disposal to the immediate revampment, development and improvement of our infrastructure. Two hours in most of the public university equals ten hours in the desert with backs placed directly on the hot sand, that’s how bad it is. Am sure they will not want to subject their children to that torture. Finally, all the money recovered from the reduction of salaries and other places shall be re-invested into the economy, I guess, because the purpose of this reduction exercise, blocking the permeable loopholes of our treasury is to get enough money to cater for the masses and the only way the masses can indirectly benefit from the reduction and blocking exercise is through re-investment into the economy. So……I am urging our president to earnestly re-invest all this money into the economy so the common man can make a sigh of relief. S. PHILLABLE