The Nation Newspaper

Tag: wage bill

  • ‘Detection of ghost workers has not yielded reduction in our wage bill’

    The Secretary to Kogi State Government (SSG), Dr Folashade Arike Ayoade,  has appealed to the judicial staff members to present themselves for the pay parade and biometric data capturing, to enable the government have the accurate data base of civil servants in the state .

    Making the appeal yesterday in the capital, Lokoja, the SSG enumerated some of the success achieved so far in the exercise, and announced that the next table payment had been arranged for civil servants at the state level and local government workers.

    Read also: Yari as ghost worker

    She explained that the Governor Yahaya Bello-led administration inherited huge wage bill, and sought to find a solution, including the staff screening, but after the exercise, no fewer than 8,000 ghost workers were detected, which ordinarily should lead to reduced wage bill, but that instead, the monthly salaries of workers at the state and the local government levels continue to increase.

    She noted that the objectives of the pay parade was not to witch hunt any arm of government, but to tackle the incessant increase in the monthly wage bill of the state

    “The governor was very worried because money is needed to develop the state, aside the payment of workers salaries.

  • FG introduces automated payment of salaries, allowances

    FG introduces automated payment of salaries, allowances

    The federal government is alarmed that it is spending N165 billion every month on salaries and allowances of workers across the country.

    To find a way of reducing the huge wage bill, President Muhammdu Buhari has directed the compulsory automation of payment of workers’ salaries and allowances as a means of reducing the cost of governance.

    Speaking when serving Chiefs under the federal ministry of interior came to the ministry of finance to plug into the payment automation exercise, the minister of finance Mrs Kemi Adeosun said President Muhammadu Buhari wants everybody to be on the automated payment system which will lead to improvement in financial control and transparency.

    Adeosun then lamented that the government spends N165 billion every month on payment of salaries and allowances a development which has now made it necessary to automate this payments.

    With regards to capturing the biometric details of members of the military and other security agencies, the finance minister disclosed that the military has been asked to design a road map for securing their information and assured other security agencies that their security dates will be adequately protected.

    Also speaking at the event, the Permanent Secretary, federal ministry of interior Mr. Bassey Akpanyung said the presidential directive to automate the payment systems to enable government know who is being paid and the number of personnel in its services to help determine if any services requires more men or is over staffed.

    The Ministry of Finance’s Director of Special Projects, who is in charge of the continuous audit exercise, Mr. Mohammed Dikwa said the essences of the automation of the payment is that there is need to look carefully to make sure that all those areas of leakages are blocked, “and we have come up with a plan to implement this programme.”

    Dikwa also revealed that “as at today, since we started the continuous audit programme, we have saved about N50 billion and over 43,000 ghost workers have been removed from the payroll of the federal government.”

     

  • APC faults Fayose’s claim on wage bill, projects

    APC faults Fayose’s claim on wage bill, projects

    •Says statement on herdsmen ‘reckless’

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has faulted Governor Ayo Fayose’s claim on the wage bill, refund from the Federal Government and projects recently inaugurated.

    The party while responding to statements made by Fayose during his monthly media chat, Meet Your Governor,  held Monday night insisted that the governor’s claim of N2.6 billion monthly wage bill is a ploy to deceive the people.

    In a statement on Tuesday by the Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, the APC  also berated the governor over insistence to poison Ekiti waters to kill herdsmen cows if they reared their cattle in Ekiti State.

    Accusing the governor of reckless conduct in his insistence to poison state’s waters to ward off herdsmen from grazing in the state, the party described Fayose as “a man of violence with uncanny appetite for murderous instincts”.

    The APC insisted that there is no truth in the governor’s claims during the media chat on the projects he commissioned, including claims on non-receipt of refunds on federal roads and debts owed by former Governor Kayode Fayemi.

    Olatunbosun said: “Contrary to Fayose’s claim in his media chat that he built Funmilayo Olayinka Women Centre, the truth is that Ekiti State Government did not spend one kobo on that project, as it is a TETFUND’s project planned for Ekiti State University campus, but which Fayose forced its relocation to Ado-Ekiti town to achieve the purpose of deceiving the people.

    “The same is Ikere road dualisation project, which was financed by a bank as its social responsibility project for the community’s development, but which Fayose is claiming credit for.”

    Olatunbosun contended that Fayose has a leaner cabinet compared with Fayemi’s and has also reduced all the empowerment schemes run by the immediate past administration hence the wage bill can’t be the same.

    He added: “Fayemi paid N13b out of N25b he borrowed before leaving office. The Federal Government has rescheduled debts payments among the indebted states to ease their debts burdens, making Ekiti State to now pay less than the N480m debt repayment that Fayemi was making monthly, but which Fayose has been deceiving Ekiti people that he pays N1.5b as debt monthly.

    “During his media chat, Fayose cleverly avoided declaring to Ekiti people that he had in collaboration with the members of the House of Assembly obtained another N20 billion loan.

    “Even with the new loan he took, monthly deduction on the state debt cannot be up to N1.5b, yet Fayose keeps lying to Ekiti workers that after deduction of debt, there is no money to pay salaries.”

  • Amosun: wage bill, WAEC fees hit N9.5b

    Amosun: wage bill, WAEC fees hit N9.5b

    Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun yesterday said the state’s monthly wage bill had hit “almost N9billion”, following increase in staff strength, pensioners, others.

    Amosun said the fee for the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for pupils has risen from N466million to N496million due to surge in enrolment.

    The governor spoke at his Oke Mosan office, Abeokuta, the state capital, after  swearing–in transition committee chairmen for the 20 local governments.

    He said the WASSCE fees may jump to N500million next year.

    Amosun said there was need for the state and local governments to “think out of the box” on how to effectively meet the increasing needs of residents amid dwindling federal allocation and internally generated revenue.

    The governor said he would create local council development areas from the existing 20 councils to fast track development in rural settings, adding that commissioners would be appointed soon.

    He said despite the daunting financial challenges, his administration was paying workers,  not indebted to WAEC and executing capital projects that would further bring investments and development.

    According to him, his “most virulent critics know that the administration has done quite well but are unwilling to admit it publicly”.

    Amosun urged the chairmen, including Adesina Baruwa (Ijebu-Ode), Tolani Timothy (Ikenne), Olaniyi Opanuga (Odogbolu), Omisanya Awoniyi (Sagamu) and 16 others not to use their new positions to pursue personal business.

  • Drop in allocation: Bayelsa cuts wage bill

    Bayelsa State has ordered a cut down on its wage bills and emoluments for its public officials as part of its belt tightening measures.

    A statement by the government yesterday, said Governor Seriake Dickson directed the cost cutting measures in response to the drop in the state’s allocation from the Federation Account.

    Dickson also called on the people to face the harsh economic reality of the times, noting that the allocation in the past months to the state had nosedived by about N5 billion.

    According to a Government House statement: “This situation has prompted many states to cut salary of workers in their states by half and many other states cannot meet their salary obligation to civil servants and even to contractors. Cross River and Benue states are among states in the federation that have taken steps to cut salaries by half owing to the grim economic downturn”.

    The governor has ordered the Commissioner of Finance and his team to expeditiously work out modalities to cut down on the state wage bills such as remunerations approved for parastatals and travel allowances for government functionaries including the governor.

    “He however instructed that this should be done in such a way that we should be able to cope with the stress that has been induced by the reduction in our inflows.

    “I have a duty as your governor to explain the reality of our current economic situation from when I took oath of office till now, our monthly revenue has dropped by over N5 billion. So, if we are not careful to build alternative revenue sources, we will get to a point where the Federal revenue will not be enough to enable us meet our minimum obligation as a State, particularly bearing in mind the very high wage bill that we have in this State that is higher than that of any other state in this country.

    Therefore, I have directed that approvals beginning with Government House expenditures should be further reduced by as much as 50 per cent in the light of the current realities. There is every need for us to review most of our expenditure patterns and let it be said when that day comes that, there was a Governor who saw that possibility and worked hard to avert it.