Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed
FG denies plans to downsize workforce at MDAs over rising recurrent expenditure
Federal Government has moved to douse the tension it created following a statement issued by the Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, who hinted at an imminent downsizing of the workforce at the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
The minister had while fielding questions at the Public Presentation and Breakdown of Highlights of the 2022 Appropriation Act on Wednesday, January 5, in Abuja, disclosed plans by the government at downsizing its workforce in a bid to cut mounting recurrent expenditure annually recorded.
It is reported that the merger and dissolution of agencies and parastatals under different ministries, s recommended by the Oronsanye Report, would see mass sackings at the various MDSa of government.
The minister, however, in that presentation added that there would be exit packages for the workers which would be disbursed immediately they are sacked.
“There is a special committee, led by the SGF, that is working on the review of agencies; with a view to collapsing them partly using the Oransanye Report.
“At the end of it, what we want to do is to reduce the size of government and also to reduce the size of personnel cost, and part of it will be designing the exit packages that are realistic.
“We are revenue challenged. So, for everything we do, we can’t put an exit package if you are not willing to cash it immediately. So, when you are asking people to exit by choice; you must be able to give them that package as they are exiting.
“There are so many things that are happening. These are not easy decisions to make because they affect people and families. So, you have to make sure that whatever we commit to; we are actually going to deliver on it,” Ahmed said.
However, while appearing a guest on the Nigerian television Authority (NTA) ‘Good Morning Nigeria’ programme on Thursday, the minister, denied insinuations that Federal Government was planning on sacking workers in order to save funds.
She said President Muhammadu Buhari had continued to assure that no worker would be sacked, even as she noted that the government would encourage people to leave government jobs by giving them incentives.
“Mr President doesn’t want to disengage staff. That is what he has directed from the beginning of his administration. He also directed that we pay salaries. The Federal Government has never failed in paying salaries and he said we must always pay pensions.
“So, he has been consistent in those directives and we have followed those directives to the letter.”
“Well, we do hope that at the end of the (merger) exercise, some agencies will be merged and it will cut down operational costs.
“And also we will be able to come up with incentive packages to retrain people and redeploy them in some areas where they are useful. For example, we still have a very high need for teachers so we can retrain people and send them to teach but also incentive packages to exit. Again, that is also money. If you want people to exit you have to pay them.
“That is an incentive package so that they can go. That is why it is taking a lot of time because it is not easy to decide on this. Everything centres on resources. We need resources and if we had a lot of money, we would just give very beautiful incentive packages and people would exit and go and start their businesses and we would reduce the size of the personnel cost.”
