FG plans to cut civil servants salaries, review number of federal agencies to cut cost
The Federal Government has directed the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission to review payrolls of civil servants and the number of federal agencies in order to cut costs.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed stated this in Abuja on Tuesday at the ongoing ‘National Policy Dialogue on Corruption and Cost of Governance in Nigeria’ organised by the Independent Corrupt Practice Commission.
According to her, the government had approved the N13.88 trillion budget with a deficit of over N5.6 trillion. The government projected revenue of N7.98 trillion to fund part of the 2021 budget.
Ahmed stated that “We still see government expenditure increase to a terrain twice higher than our revenue,” Our budgets are filled year in year out with projects that are recycled over and over again and are also not necessary.
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She called on all government agencies to work togethert to cut down cost by doing away with unnecessary expenditures.
“Mr. President has directed that the salaries committee that I chair, work together with the head of service and other members of the committee to review the government payrolls in terms of stepping down on cost.”
The Minister said that the FG would also review the number of government agencies in terms of their mandates and look at how to merge agencies with the same mandate
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In his remarks, the Chairman of the ICPC, Bolaji Owasanoye, noted that the cost of governance is the “driver of corruption in Nigeria.”
He said the government’s commitment to streamline payroll, removal of subsidies, and reduction of the cost of contracts and procurement are all for the benefits of the poor and vulnerable.
Owasanoye, who said a critical area of concern was payroll padding and the phenomenon of ghost workers, also lamented the duplication of projects such as the constituency projects of lawmakers.