Zainab Ahmed: Salary harmonisation will check disparity among civil servants

The federal government has announced plans to harmonise salaries of employees of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

Speaking during a webinar organised by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) on Tuesday, Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, budget and national planning, said the government is ready to review its payroll in a bid to reduce the cost of governance.

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

She explained that there are are 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. Expenditures 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 mandates.

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