Former President Goodluck Jonathan; his deputy, Namadi Sambo; past ministers and presidential aides as well as non-returning federal lawmakers will have to wait till next year before collecting their Billions of Naira severance allowances.
Their severance allowances as contained in the remuneration package put together by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission is valued at about N3.24bn.
Sources at the Ministry of Finance in Abuja confided in PUNCH on Thursday that the allowances of the political office holders that left office last weekend were not captured in this year’s budget.
Explaining the reason why the severance pay was not captured in this year’s budget, the official said as of last year when the 2015 budget was being prepared, the outcome of the April 2015 elections could not be ascertained.
He said since the outcome of the elections could not be predicted, there was no way the Budget Office could have determined the number of political office holders that would not be re-elected.
The official added, “You will recall that the 2015 budget was prepared sometime last year and during the budget preparation, the elections had not been held.
“So it would be wrong to include the severance package of political office holders in the budget because as of the time the budget was prepared, these people were still holding political offices.
“So what we do is to wait for the outcomes of elections and on the strength of this, we can know the number of people that have left office and those re-elected.
Under the severance package put together by RMAFC, Jonathan is entitled to 300 per cent of his annual basic salary.
The President’s annual basic salary is put at N3,514,705 and therefore his severance allowance will be N10,544,115 after May 29.
The allowance is without prejudice to his other constitutional entitlements as a former head of government.
Similarly, Vice-President Sambo, who left office the same day as Jonathan, is entitled to 300 per cent of his annual basic salary put at N3,031,572.50. This means that his severance allowance after May 29 is N9,094,717.50.
For having held the office of vice-president, Sambo also has some constitutional entitlements and perks.
These guys are really enjoying our money. Good they have to wait till next year before any payment.'
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