The proposal of the Nigeria Labour Congress for an upward review of the minimum might come to nothing as the Federal Government revealed that the N165 billion it pays monthly as salaries and pension is unsustainable.
Minister of finance, Kemi Adeosun, who made the disclosure in Lagos yesterday at the Newspapers Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN) meeting, said that, already, the investigation had started yielding fruits as some discoveries had been made, such as dead staff still being on the payroll for years.
The ongoing investigation of the N165 billion monthly wage bill may unmask ghost workers believed to have over-bloated the federal government payroll. The NPAN meeting also had in attendance the ministers of environment, Amina Mohammed; agriculture, Audu Ogbeh and information, Lai Mohammed.
For instance, the minister disclosed that the Nigerian railway corporation, which has been moribund for several years was said to have over 10,000 workers on its payroll, a figure she said was unrealistic.
Adeosun said the government was determined to free resources to address other critical issues like infrastructure development, job creation and investment in other sectors of the economy in line with its diversification initiative.
“The civil service staff is over-bloated; we have about 1.2 million staff on government payroll, but I don’t think we have this number anywhere else, so we are building control. “We are collaborating with other tiers of government, especially the state governments, so that we don’t have for instance a doctor working with the state government hospital and at the same time working with the federal government,” she said.
The minister noted that the huge pay-out is not sustainable as it represents about 40 per cent of total government expenditure and said all government agencies and parastatals would be investigated, with the process supported by available Information Technology platforms and the Biometric Verification Number (BVN) recently introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
“On this salary issue, we are verifying the police, army and others. The wage bill is not sustainable. There are people who had died about four years ago but their names are still on the payroll,” she stated.
Speaking on government’s fiscal policies, the minister assured that government would be disciplined and prudent in spending and was more determined to cut inefficiency and wastage. She further said that, in the next one year, efforts would be geared toward investment in capital needed to grow the local economy.
Adeosun, however, noted that the issue of payment of petrol subsidy recently announced by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) could be the settlement of pending arrears, adding that subsidy on petrol is not captured in the 2016 national budget.
On the issue of VAT and tariff on newsprint, the minister said she was aware of tariff placed on various items but that she would have to verify that of the newsprint, with a view to providing some leverage to the media industry to enhance their critical role in nation building.
