Abuja – An economist, Mr Dele Ajala, on Tuesday advised the Federal Government to sack all unproductive civil servants to reduce the N165 billion being paid on monthly basis as salaries.
Ajala told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that the unproductive workers were collecting salaries without making any contribution to the service.
He said that government could remove the unproductive civil servants from the system by decentralising salary payment.
According to him, the centralised payment of salaries to all MDAs is not effective as government is not aware of unproductive staff collecting salaries every month.
“ Some government staff collect salaries every month but don’t have chair and tables to work while some only appear in the office at the end of every month to show their faces.
“ Some go on maternity leave for two years with pay and some are on study leave abroad for more than 10 years and still collecting salaries; these anomalies must stop,’’ Ajala said.
He said that government should release its self from the burden of paying salaries by releasing funds to all MDAs to pay themselves.
“Government can adopt a method of combining both overhead and personnel together as recurrent to all MDAs to pay staff salaries and run office needs from the recurrent expenditure.
“Let’s assume a billion naira is given by the Federal Government to an organisation as a recurrent per annum, it is left for the organisation to plan on how to manage the funds.
“This approach will force some organisations to take the bold step of retrenching unproductive staff and accommodate the experts and professionals that are efficient in the establishment and also solve other needs from the allocation.
“This is the only way that government can be free from increase in salary payment every month and also eliminate some redundant staff in the service,’’ Ajala said.
He said that government had different modes of paying off retrenched staff, adding that the funds to settle those affected should not be an hindrance if the economy must grow.
NAN recalls that the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, had said that the N165 billion being spent monthly on salaries of federal civil servants was not sustainable. (NAN)
