Minister of Finance, Budget and Planning, Zainab Ahmed says most of the Nigeria’s capital projects are recycled thus gulping huge amount of money on a yearly basis.
She, then, said that the Nigerian government is working on review of salaries which may lead to slashing of salaries of federal workers.
The minister stated this as one of the remedies to reduce the high cost of governance.
Ahmed revealed this in Abuja at a forum tagged Policy Dialogue on Corruption and Cost of Governance in Nigeria on Tuesday.
The event was organised by the national headquarters of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission.
The minister said President Muhammadu Buhari had asked the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission to review the salaries of civil servants and employees of many agencies in the country to save cost.
She, therefore, charged the agencies to work towards cutting down cost because of deteriorating revenues by the government.
According to her, the Nigerian government plans to remove certain items from the budget to reduce the cost of governance.
She said, “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.
“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 cutting down on cost,’’ Ahmed said.
In his remarks, the ICPC chairman, Prof Bolaji Owasanoye (SAN) listed payroll padding and the saga of ghost workers and abuse of recruitment as areas of concern in governance cost.
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