N1.8trn Wage Bill: Association Demands Accountability

The Association of Senior
Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has called for accountability over the alleged N1.8 trillion yearly wage bill of civil servants in the service of the Federal Government .
In a statement issued by the union and signed by its Secretary General, Comrade Alade Bashir Lawal and made available to The Tide, the association stated the need for the Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to explain how N1.8 trillion was being spent annually as wage bill  for federal workers.
Lawal said the union wanted  the minister to better inform Nigerians on the issue, stressing that the Minister had through the Director-General, Budget Office, Dr Bright Okogu “said the Federal Government’s wage bill for public servants had risen from N857 billion in 2009 to N1.8 trillion while the staff strength in the federal public service was now 12 million.”
The union scribe in the statement said the Finance Minister should publicly state how much of the N1.8 trillion was consumed by “public office holders including ministers, special and ordinary advisers personal, senior and junior assistants, senators, members of the House of Representatives including their quarterly allocations”.
The statement added that “it is also necessary for Dr Bright Okogu to tell Nigerians how much salary is paid by each Ministry, Department and Agency (MDA) per year including their staff strength.
Lawal further said that when they had done these analyses, it would become crystally clear how much of the N1.8 trillion was  consumed by the whopping emoluments of the political office holders.
“Besides, it should be stated that records at our disposal show clearly that the staff strength in the entire Federal Public Service was about 870,000 and not 12 million being bandied about by the ministers unless there is a hidden agenda somewhere,” the union stated.
The union accused the Minister of falsehood when she said 37% of federal budget was spent on civil servants salary payment, stressing that the staff strength of core civil servants was about 100,000 as against 870,000 staff for the entire public service.
Lawal said there was no justification for the government to pay peanut as salary to civil servants.