Budget: Senate fumes over rising salary despite embargo on recruitment

The Senate has queried the federal government over increasing recurrent expenditure in the budget despite the retirement of workers and embargo placed on recruitment.

This followed the failure of the Chairman of National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission (NSIWC), Ekpo Nta, to give details of the amount spent on salaries and wages by the federal government.

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He appeared yesterday before the Senate Committee on Establishment to defend the agency’s budget

Senator Ali Ndume (APC, Borno), who said the embargo on employment was increasing the rate of unemployment in the country wondered why the recurrent expenditure components of the budget had been increasing yearly since 2018.

“In 2018, it was N3.5trillion, N4trn in 2019, N4.5trn in 2020, N5.6trn – 2021 and N6.83trn in the projected N16.39trillion 2022 budget.”

Other members of the committee like Suleiman Kwari (APC, Kaduna), Nicholas Tofowomo (PDP, Ondo) and the chairman of the committee, Ibrahim Shekarau (APC, Kano), supported Ndume’s submission. 

Shekarau directed the commission to liaise with the Accountant General of the Federation for required harmonisation in arriving at the total amount of salaries and wages paid yearly by the federal government.