Zainab Ahmed: FG To Reduce Workers’ Salary

The federal government has directed the National Salaries, Incomes & Wages Commission (NSIWC) to review salaries of civil servants and some federal agencies.

This was made known by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed at a policy dialogue on corruption and cost of governance in Nigeria, organized on Tuesday by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC).

She urged all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government to come together to trim the cost of governance amid dwindling revenue.

Ahmed said the federal government intends to remove some unnecessary items from the budget in order to cut the cost of governance in the country.

“We still see government expenditure increase to a terrain twice higher than our revenue. The nation’s budgets are filled every year with projects that are recycled over and over again and are also not necessary,” the minister said.

“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.”

Ahmed further said the federal government will also review the number of government agencies in terms of their mandates, adding that it also plans to merge two agencies with the same mandate.