Six months after President Muhammadu Buhari
swore in his ministers, most of them have still not settled down in Abuja and
are groaning because the N4 million approved by the president as their yearly
accommodation allowance have not been able to rent any meaningful house in
Abuja, THISDAY has learnt.
The N4 million, THISDAY findings reviewed,
can only rent flats and not homes, and giving the need for security, those
flats which have many other tenants in the building, are not secure or fit for
purpose.
Usually, accommodation for ministers,
special advisers and other political office holders is quickly resolved shortly
after their swearing-in to enable them settle down to their official
responsibilities.
But owing to the inadequacy of the funds
approved for their accommodation by Buhari, some ministers have been forced to
stay in dingy hotels or squat with friends and relatives, it was gathered.
The ministers, THISDAY learnt, are
concerned that it would be next to impossible for them to get accommodation
befitting their offices with N4 million in Abuja and have repeatedly appealed
to Buhari to review it upwards to N20 million per annum, but their request has
been turned down.
According to a source in the presidency,
“In a bid to make their case, all the ministers who had formed a committee on
the issue of their accommodation met with Buhari last week Wednesday, but he
rejected their request because his hands are tied by the Remuneration Act, even
though he empathises with their situation.
“They were asking for N20 million per annum
for their accommodation. But prior to last week’s meeting, several other
options had been proposed, including buying an estate or the FCDA (Federal
Capital Development Authority) building one, but these were considered
expensive and dropped.
“The final option was the request for N20
million per annum, because some ministers are squatting in Abuja and the
situation is impacting on their jobs.”
However, the president was said to have
balked at increasing the accommodation allowance to N20 million on the grounds
that the administration could suffer a backlash from the public.
The source also explained that the N4
million approved by the president was in line with the current remuneration
package for public office holders in the ministerial cadre set by the Revenue
Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) under the Remuneration
Act of 2007.
Under the current package, ministers are
entitled to N4,052,800 as housing allowance per annum. The housing allowance is
200 per cent of a minister’s annual remuneration.
They are also entitled to N6,079,200 as
furniture allowance. The furniture allowance is 300 per cent of a minister’s
annual salary.
But unlike the housing allowance, the
furniture allowance is paid once in four years. This means the furniture
allowance per annum is N1,519,800.
THISDAY also gathered that ministers will
be entitled to N8,105,600 as motor vehicle allowance, but will come in the form
of a loan repayable by the end of a minister’s tenure.
However, aides of the ministers conversant
with the problem, informed THISDAY that some compromise would have to be
reached so that the ministers could find decent accommodation in Abuja.
“We hope there will be a meeting point over
what the president has approved for the ministers and the special advisers who
are on the same level, as the N4 million is not realistic at all.
“Some of these public office holders were
past governors and chief executives in private concerns before they were
appointed, and it will be unfair to downgrade their living standards,” one
ministerial aide stated.
He added that the nature of their jobs also
requires some ministers to host local and foreign dignitaries at their
residences when they visit Abuja.
“By virtue of their office, some ministers
such as those in charge of foreign affairs, budget and national planning,
finance, trade and investment, health, and education, among others, often host
foreign dignitaries from missions, embassies and international or multilateral
donor agencies. Accordingly, they would need befitting accommodation.
“It would not be in our interest for such
dignitaries to be hosted in tiny flats or in far flung suburbs outside the
metropolis, which is what the N4 million can afford at the moment. Besides,
there might also be security concerns about allowing ministers to live in such
suburbs or even hosting foreign dignitaries there.
“Right now, the absence of accommodation
also means that many of them have not been able to relocate their families and
have been shuttling on a regular basis to cater to the home front.
Realistically, that will be a distraction that the administration could do
without,” the aide said.
Another aide, who preferred not to be
named, blamed the problem on the monetisation programme of the Olusegun
Obasanjo administration, resulting in the sale of official residences built for
ministers and other top government functionaries in Abuja.
“In the past, former ministers lived in
purpose-built spacious mansions in Maitama, the Ministers’ Hill, also in
Maitama, and the Ministers’ Quarters in Mabushi, which were all within the
Abuja metropolis.
“But those official residences were sold to
former ministers. So their successors have had to rent accommodation starting
with the Goodluck Jonathan administration.
“And with the N4 million approved by
President Buhari, it is next to impossible for the ministers to rent anything
decent,” the source said.
He added that the problem does not just
apply to ministers but also the principal officers of the National Assembly.
“The Obasanjo administration should not
have sold the official residences of the Senate president, the Speaker of the
House of Representatives and their deputies to Senator David Mark, Hon. Dimeji
Bankole, and others.
“Today, the FCDA is spending billions of
naira building another set of official residences for the National Assembly’s
principal officers. Had the government retained them, billions could have been
saved in building a new set of residences for the leadership of parliament,” he
said.
A survey carried out by THISDAY revealed
that a four to five-bedroom detached house in Wuse II, Abuja, goes for anywhere
between N8 million to N10 million per annum.
The rate is almost the same in
Gwarinpa Phase 1 and Utako, Abuja, while a four-bedroom detached house in
Maitama or Asokoro goes for between N10 million and N15 million per annum.
Source:Thisday
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Politics