- FG’s recurrent expenditure in 2018 stood at N5.85 trillion while total revenue earned was N3.86 trillion
Amid dwindling revenue and rising recurrent expenditure, a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Obadiah Mailafia has recommended salary cuts for public servants at the highest echelons of the federal and state governments.
The federal government’s recurrent expenditure in 2018 (including statutory transfers) stood at N5.85 trillion while total revenue earned the same year was N3.86 trillion. A record N2.09 trillion was also deployed in debt service, even as personnel cost stood at over N2.1 trillion.
The federal government’s 2020-2022 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) projects personnel cost at over N3 trillion in the 2020 budget.
In an interview with THISDAY, Mailafia who expressed concern over the rising fiscal challenges in the country canvassed salary cuts for public servants at the highest echelons.
Mailafia who was also the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the 2019 polls said: “The admonition to cut your coat according to your size is a time-tested and wise one. It is self-evident that our burgeoning debt of N24 trillion is becoming rather unsustainable. The salaries and emoluments being doled out to legislators is a scandal in itself.
“A poor country like ours cannot afford to pay the highest salaries for parliamentarians anywhere in the world – higher than the United States, Britain, Canada, India and the nations of real existing democracy.
“There is no justification for it. There is need for some salary cuts for the highest echelons in government. This will send the right signals that we are committed to fairness and equity. But uncontrolled expansion of the public service creates its own problems. We have to get rid of all ghost workers.”
He admonished that human resource audits must be conducted every couple of years to get rid of all who are on the payroll illegally, adding that a state government recently uncovered hundreds of dead teachers still receiving salaries.
“Ever since Aristotle, the wisest statesmen have understood that a good state is one that is run on the same principles of prudence as your typical household. You must keep a tab on inward and outward movements of cash.
“It pays to live within your means. And you must certainly avoid going on a spending spree with the recklessness of drunken sailors. Above all, you must develop the culture of saving and investing for tomorrow,” he admonished.
On the recent audit report from the Auditor-General for the Federation, that the number of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of the government that failed to subject their activities to audit scrutiny rose from 148 in 2014 to 323 in 2018, the former CBN chief recommended that completing the annual audit by the MDAs should be a pre-condition for access to subsequent budgetary allocations.
“That would compel MDAs to do the necessary. I would like to see further legislation to strengthen the role of the Auditor-General. For example, the office should be under the control of the Council of States and not the government of the day or the Presidency,” he said.
According to him, the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation should report to the Council of States and the Supreme Court which can take legal action against an MDA that fails in its fiduciary duties to manage public finances in a prudent and accountable manner.
Source: THISDAY
