A
Presidential committee on the reform of the public service yesterday
submitted its findings to the government with a revelation that the top
echelon of the service take away up to N1.126 trillion yearly in
salaries and allowances.
The Presidential Committee on the
Review of the Reform Processes in the Nigerian Public Service, headed by
former head of service Adamu Fika, also called for the abolition of the
tenure system for directors and permanent secretaries.
Presenting the report to the Secretary
to the Government of the Federation Anyim Pius Anyim in Abuja, Fika
said huge resources are being spent on salaries and allowances of
holders of certain public offices who constitute only 0.013 per cent
Nigeria’s population.
He said in the perquisites approved
for these officers by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal
Commission (RMFAC) with effect from July 2007, salaries and allowances
shot up to N1.126 trillion.
“Of this, salaries took a mere N94.56
billion, while allowances gulped the whole of N1031.65 billion, which
represented 91.56%,” he said.
“There is therefore a need to take a
hard look at this glaring anomaly, where allowances are more than ten
times greater than salaries.
“Such a re-examination is very
necessary in the light of the fact that the total number of
beneficiaries of the RMFAC largesse is only about 18, 000 officers,
while the population of Nigeria then was estimated at 167 million.”
He added: “It is not morally
defensible from the perspective of social justice or any known moral
criterion that such a huge sum of public funds is consumed by an
infinitesimal fraction of the people, which is less than 0.013% of the
total population.”
Fika did not mention the category of
public officers who consume these salaries, but the constitution
empowers RMAFC to fix pay packages for the President, Vice President,
ministers, governors, commissioners, Federal and state legislators,
senior Judiciary officers, as well as members of federal and state
executive bodies.
On the controversial tenure policy
initiated by then head of service Steve Oronsaye, Fika said it was
introduced without any impact assessment study and has violated the
rights of those affected based on their terms of engagement.
He said the policy had depleted and
deprived the service of some of the most competent and experienced hands
as well as introduced a destabilising and rapid turnover of senior
officers in the service.
“The committee therefore recommends that the tenure policy in the public service should be abrogated,” he said.
The committee also recommended ways to save the civil service from political interference.
But a splinter group from the
committee submitted a minority report, saying they disagreed with the
main committee on certain recommendations.
Receiving the two reports, Anyim said
there was no problem in the members disagreeing and that government
would consider both reports.
The original 16-member committee
comprised Alhaji Adamu Fika (chairman), Mrs. Francesca Yetunde Emmanuel
(vice chairperson), Mrs. Peres Ayoola, Dr. Aliyu Modibbo Umar, Ms. Ama
Pepple, Mr. Steve Oronsaye, Alhaji Musa Magaji, Malam Abubakar Gimba,
Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, Mrs. Ammuna Lawal-Ali, Mr. S.O. Adekunle, Dr. Sam
Amadi, Prof. Murtala Balogun, Mr. Paul Ibeku, Deaconess J.O. Ayo and
Dr. Tunji Olaopa (secretary).
DailyTrust
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