Yar’Adua Moves Against Health Minister

The Health Minister, Prof. Adenike Grange, who was arrested last Thursday on the orders of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua over the handling of unspent funds in the 2007 budget and award of contracts, has been released.

Grange was released at the weekend by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) after she was interrogated over the allegation.

THISDAY learnt that the health minister claimed she was misadvised by her directors.

Operatives of EFCC are now moving against the directors following the minister’s claim but Grange may be invited again for further interrogation as more details are unveiled.

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This article addresses the recent release of Nigerian Health Minister Adenike Grange who was arrested on the orders of President Umaru Yar'Adua because of how remaining funds in the federal budget were handled. Grange said that she was "misadvised by her directors." According to the article, Grange was found to distribute funds without following due process; this shows the corruption that has filled the government because the leaders do not necessarily follow the necessary or required procedures to accomplish the things that they desire. The arrest of Grange is expected to reveal more leaders who have done the same or similar things as she. President Yar'Adua has been angry over the inflation of the money that he believes is partially due to the sporadic spending of the governmental ministers. The actions that the government takes, furthering Yar'Adua's vow to stamp out corruption, will show the power and influence the Nigerian government has.

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Bill Proposing High Level Pay Raises Passed by the Senate

A chart showing the exchange rate between the Naira and the British Pound

With the conclusion of work and passage of the Bill to amend the Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances) Act, by the Senate yesterday, a legal backing has now been given to the new pay packages for the President, his deputy and other senior officials of the Bench.

The President's salary, according to the Bill, has now been raised from N1,405,882.00 to N3,514,705.00 while that of the Vice President goes up to N3,031, 572.00 from N1,212,629.00. The Chief Justice will earn N3,363,972.00 while a Justice of the Supreme Court and the President of the Court of Appeal will take N2,477,110.00. A Justice of the Court of Appeal will get N1, 995, 430.00.

The decision to increase the salaries was taken after an exhaustive deliberation on a report presented to that effect by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on National Planning, Economic Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Senator Zainab Kure.According to her, the upward review was in harmony with submissions made by RMAFC. She pointed out that the issue of salaries was dynamic and as such it was supposed to be reviewed from time to time.

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The raise that was probably well merited, judging by the chart shown above. The chart show that more and more Naira are needed to make one pound, thus denoting inflation. To retain the same standar of living, salaries must be increases on a regular basis. This certainly does not explain all of the larger salary, though. The remaining amount of the more than doubled salaries may or may not be justified, and the ambiguous explanation does not shed any light on the matter.
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