Ladoja faults politicians over salary cut

Former Governor of Oyo State, Senator Rashidi Ladoja has described the slashing of salaries by current political leaders in the country as mere window dressing

Ladoja who stated this while addressing reporters in Ibadan said there are so many unknown bogus allowances not captured in the “so-called salary cuts”.

President Mohammadu Buhari, his Vice, Professor Yemi Osinbajo and some governors have slashed their salaries by 50 percent in the light of the present economic realities in the country.

But Ladoja while faulting the action said if for instance, members of the National Assembly earn N5million in a month and their quarterly allowance is ‎N30million and they decide to cut their salary by half, he wondered what that would amount to.

While calling for greater transparency in government, Ladoja called on the institution fixing salaries of political office holders to make it open to Nigerians to know all allowances accruing ‎to politicians with a view to appreciating their gestures.

He said, “I see some of the steps taken by our politicians as window dressing. If you say you cut the salaries of the National Assembly members who knows how much they are earning? We only know what is written in the revenue allocation commission but we don’t know what their allowances are. For instance if their allowances are N30million and salary is N5million and you say cut the salaries. What does that translate to? So unless they tell us their full package and say from the total package I am cutting it into half, if not, just cutting basic salaries into half is mere window dressing. We have still not learnt our lessons in politics to be open and at times we take the public for a ride. And we say we are doing it. If your allowances is 30million in a quarter and your annual salary is 5million. Who is fooling who?”

On the delay in the hearing of the governorship petition Ladoja expressed confidence in the judiciary that the matter would be handled without bias.

“I trust in the judiciary. I know they are aware that they have 180 days to dispense justice in the case and they have given us their assurances that they will keep to the legally stipulated time. They may have problems here and there but we have their assurances”