Budget office: 428 MDAs can’t pay November salaries

Ben Akabueze, director-general of the budget office of the federation, says about 428 ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) of the federal civil service will not be able to pay November salaries.

Akabueze told members of the senate committee on public accounts that the inability is due to the implementation of the new minimum wage.

However, he said the FG is considering releasing funds from the service-wide vote (SWV) to cater to the shortfall in the November salaries of civil servants.

The SWV is a major component of the nation’s yearly budget where a lump sum of money is kept to tackle unforeseen expenditure both for recurrent and capital.

It is disbursed by the accountant-general of the federation based on the instructions of the minister of finance.

In April 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari signed the new minimum wage bill into law, approving N30,000 as the wages of workers.

On his part, Mathew Urhogide, chairman of the committee, lamented the “continued underfunding” of the office of auditor-general of the federation by the executive arm of government while agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) were being adequately funded.

He said the low allocation of funds to the agency will affect its duty of ensuring accountability and transparency in the management of public funds.

“The proposed budget of N4.6 billion for the office in 2021 may not be adequate to audit N13 trillion in the 2021 budget proposal of the federal government of Nigeria,” he said.

Urhogide also said provisions for staff recruitment and promotion in the office of the auditor- general of the federation were not included in the 2021 budget.

Responding, Akabueze said the budget office would only appropriate funds to the office of auditor-general of the federation based on extant laws.

He added that since his appointment as budget office DG, there has been an improvement in the budget of the office of auditor- general of the federation.