Posted by By Musikilu Mojeed, Abuja on
If the National Executive Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party okays a recommendation by one of its committees, President Umaru Yar'Adua and the 26 PDP governors will soon begin to contribute 10 per cent of their monthly pay to the party.
If the National Executive Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party okays a recommendation by one of its committees, President Umaru Yar'Adua and the 26 PDP governors will soon begin to contribute 10 per cent of their monthly pay to the party.
Others that are likely to pay 10 per cent of their monthly earnings to the PDP are all members holding political offices at the three tiers of government.
It is however not clear if the proposal contained in the report of the 18-man committee set up by the party to work out modalities for the implementation of the recommendations of the PDP National Reconciliation Committee will affect those appointed to the boards of parastatals at the Federal and state levels.
The proposal is one of the recommendations of the Alhaji Bello Mohammed-led committee on the reconciliation committee headed by a former Vice-President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme.
Our correspondent obtained a copy of the recommendations in Abuja on Thursday.
The Ekwueme-led committee had recommended that 'appropriate funding mechanisms must be created to spell out sources of funding for the party."
It also suggested that 'all party members must assume responsibility for payment of dues and raising funds for operations of the party."
In its own report, the Mohammed-led committee recommended that in implementing the proposal, party members holding political offices must be made to contribute 10 per cent of their salaries to the party.
The members, according to the party, will also pay N100 each as registration fee and N600 as annual dues.
This, the committee said, was without prejudice to other donations that members might want to make to the party.
The panel has, therefore, urged the NEC of the party to work out a proposal for the sharing of monies realised from the levies among the national headquarters, zonal, state and local government chapters of the party.
The sharing formula, it said, should make a special provision for funding the party in states where the PDP is not in control of the state government.
To also shore up the revenue profile of the party, dinners to raise funds will also be organised regularly with monies realised from donations going into an endowment fund.
The endowment fund, the committee said, would be administered by a management committee and donors would be recognised and appropriate plaques given to them in accordance with the amount of money they contributed.
The panel also urged the party to take urgent steps to give due recognition and reward for loyal, committed and disciplined party members who have made outstanding contributions to the growth of the party.
It said loyal members should be recommended for party and national honours, government appointments, membership of the party's Board of Trustees and other forms of recognition and patronage.