NLC fumes as FG slashes wage award for civil servants

Nigeria Labour Union, NLC, have expressed strong disapproval of the Federal Government’s decision to slash the supplementary budgetary allocation for wage awards to federal civil servants by ₦100 billion, asserting that this action contravenes the agreement between the unions and the government.

A review of the newly revised 2023 Supplementary Budget revealed that the government had swapped the controversial ₦5 billion presidential yacht allocation for Navy barges while simultaneously increasing the budget for defence from ₦476.54 billion to ₦546.21 billion. Additionally, the budget earmarked ₦20 billion as capital supplementation for the National Intelligence Agency.

The recently approved ₦2.1 trillion 2023 Supplementary Budget had been embroiled in controversy following the discovery of seemingly extravagant items, prompting an amendment by the National Assembly.

BusinessDay earlier reported that the proposed document had indicated that the four-month wage award would cost the Federal Government around ₦210 billion. However, the approved and newly revised document shows that the cost will be reduced to approximately ₦110 billion.

Furthermore, the revised budget reflects an increase in the Ministry of Defense’s budget from ₦476.54 billion to ₦546.21 billion, indicating an additional allocation of ₦69.67 billion.

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Under the ministry, the Nigerian Navy, which had previously been at the centre of controversy over the proposed ₦5.095 billion allocation for purchasing a presidential yacht, has received an additional ₦25 billion to its total allocation.

Its overall allocation has increased from ₦62.8 billion in the proposed supplementary budget to ₦87.8 billion in the approved document.

Commenting on this development, Chris Onyeka, Assistant General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), asserted that the agreement was for the government to raise the wages of federal civil servants, not to reduce them.

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He asked, “Are you saying they cut the wage awards by ₦100 billion? Well, we have been talking about the high cost of governance, and if they decide to reduce their bills by cutting down their numerous aides and assistants, that’s alright.

“But if it is that they don’t want to pay workers what they are supposed to pay, then there is a problem. How can you subject workers to further reductions in their salaries? No way! We agreed to a wage award of ₦35,000 to all federal workers, so the wage award has to increase.”

Benson Upah, Head of Information at the NLC, also expressed his disappointment, stating, “We were not informed before this was done. However, this behaviour is not inconsistent with the psychology of this government. It’s sad!”