Former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Professor Kingsley Moghalu has told political officeholders in Nigeria to reduce their salaries and allowances by 50%.
The former presidential candidate argued that the present economic realities show the weight of extravagant lifestyles by political office holders in the country is affecting the country and only the masses seem to be making the sacrifices and suffering economic hardship.
According to him, the recent removal of fuel subsidies has brought fresh hardship to the citizens of the country.
He therefore called on all political office holders from President Bola Tinubu, to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and all others in the presidency, National Assembly and all spheres of government to lead by example and reduce their salary and allowances by 50%.
Speaking on Monday during an interview appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Moghalu said: “The culture of governance is a very important issue that needs to be addressed and the tone has to be set from the top – from the presidency down. It has to include the National Assembly because a lot of resources go there and they are supposed to be independent of the executive.
“So, they themselves must come on board, examine themselves, and say: ‘Look, even if we have been making this mistake in the past, we cannot continue this way. We have to cut our salaries.’ I recommend a 50% cut for all political office holders and all national legislators. It would make people a little bit more sober. It would make them understand that we are in hard times.”
Moghalu lamented further that the cost of governance in Nigeria is too high and places too much emphasis on self-service rather than people service.
“So the culture of governance – all these excessive demonstrations of power and influence – is a very negative culture because it shows that government is not for service.
“It is for self-aggrandisement. It is for political power for its own sake, not for leadership and service,” he submitted.
The former presidential candidate also berated political officeholders in the country for not replicating good examples of what they see in developed countries in Nigeria. He balmed the political class for preventing the economic growth of the country through their self-seeking behaviour.
“So, my comment is simply a reflection of the fact that the political class in Nigeria – more broadly – has prevented the economic progress of the country because of their own self-seeking and rent-seeking behaviour,” he said, adding that “This is the problem, not borrowing.”
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