We want to harmonise salaries not cut workers pay – Finance minister

Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, has clarified that the Federal Government wants to harmonise salaries of employees of ministries, departments and agencies and not slash their pay.

She had during a webinar organised by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) on Tuesday said the government was ready to review its payroll in a bid to reduce the cost of governance.

But many reports had indicated that the FG planned to cut workers’ salaries, which the labour kicked against.

A statement issued on Wednesday by Yunusa Tanko Abdullahi, Ahmed’s special adviser on media and communication, quoted her as saying that it was necessary to clarify that the FG was not thinking of cutting wages, rather it was seeking pay parity.

She explained that there were some government agencies paying much higher than others, for staff on the same grade level.

“What government hopes to achieve is to redistribute wages equally across board. Let us bring our salary structure within government agencies as close or as equitable and fair,” she said.

“What we seek to achieve is to create fairness and equity and to reduce cost. With this readjustment, when finally done, workers in the public service will earn a fair and equitable wages,” she said.

The minister had announced that President Muhammadu Buhari directed the National Salaries, Incomes & Wages Commission (NSIWC) to review salaries of civil servants and some federal agencies.

“We need to work together, all agencies of the government to cut down our cost. We need to cut down unnecessary expenditures; expenditure that we can do without. Our budgets are filled year in year out with projects that we see over and over again, and also projects that are not necessary,” she had said.

“President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that the salaries committee, which I chair, work together with the head of service (HOS) and other members of the committee to review the government pay rolls considering stepping down on cost.”

She also disclosed that the government would review the number of government agencies in terms of their mandate.

Agencies that share the same mandate would be merged, the finance minister added.