The Federal Government has ordered all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to stop enacting salary, stipend, and supplementary benefit raises without its permission.
Mr. Ekpo Nta, Chairman of the National Salaries, Income, and Wages Commission (NSIWC), issued the caution during a two-day training session for pay examiners in Abuja.
According to media accounts, the training will be used to carry out Phase II of the 2022 Salary Inspection Programme.
According to Nta, over the years, the commission has discovered through pay monitoring initiatives that some agencies are adopting illegal compensation, pensions, and extra benefits.
“I want to state unequivocally that even if the establishment acts of any fully funded, partially funded, or self-funded federal agencies allow their board to determine their remuneration, I believe that this is not the case.”
“It can only do so if statutory input is provided in accordance with Section 3(1) of the NSIWC Act 1999.” This is true whether or not their foundation legislation precedes 1993.
“They are bound by our Act in the same way that the Public Procurement Act 2007, the ICPC Act 2000, the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007, and other enactments are bound.”
“They apply to all federal government agencies, whether they pre-date or post-date their establishment acts.”
According to the chairman, the federal government released two circulars signed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation based on this.
He stated that the memo ordered all MDAs to refrain from enacting any raise without NSIWC’s input and that after government clearances, such approvals must be communicated by NSIWC.
“The country will not accept fiscal indiscipline in which the personnel budget and non-regular allowances of overhead budgets for public service employees are not controlled and spiral out of control, especially in self-funded institutions.”
“This is due to unregulated recruitment, the implementation of the national minimum wage, and other factors,” Nta explained.
The NSIWC chief repeated that the commission had saved the government over N400 billion per year through this examination and other activities that would otherwise have been misused, squandered, or stolen.
He stated that the plan for this year would include organisations that had received permission to introduce new wages, gratuities, and extra benefits within the previous six months.
He mentioned the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment and its parastatals, as well as the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development and its parastatals.
Nta encouraged the wage inspectors to learn more during the training, then go out into the field and conduct the inspection with zeal and zero tolerance for compromise.
He cautioned that any investigator caught breaking established rules and regulations would face suitable punishment for an illegal violation of confidence or dishonest behaviour.
He then sought the assistance and collaboration of the chosen organisations to ensure the exercise’s accomplishment, which was a mandatory prerequisite.
