Kemi Adeosun says no going back on suspended Special Overtime Allowance for Ministry for Finance workers
Last week, civil
servants in the Ministry of Finance staged a protest at the Ministry's
secretariat where they called for the sack of the Minister of Finance, Kemi
Adeosun over the non-payment of their special overtime allowance. The workers
barricaded the entrance to the ministry and accused the Minister of stopping
their allowance.
Speaking on Channels TV
this morning, Adeosun said the suspension of the Special Overtime Allowance for
the workers had been stopped by her predecessor, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
"For about 11 years
or so, the Federal Inland Revenue Service who are self funded, get 4% of what
they collect as cost of collection. They don't get their salaries from the
Federation account and every year they allocate a bonus and part of that bonus
was given to staff of the office of the Accountant General, Ministry of Finance
and Budget of the Federation. It has always been contentious but its always been
paid. In 2014, my predecessor then told them this is the last time it would be
paid. It was N800 million at the time. It was communicated to the Union that
the allowance wasn't in their scheme of service. Its not an official payment
that can be justified and so it is not going to continue. So when I was sworn
in in 2015, the first issue that was brought to me was this and this year, the
claim was N1.2 billion. I consulted with the Head of Service, Federal Inland
Revenue Service, Consulted with the Presidency, checked the legalities. There
is no provision for it in the budget for FIRS. There is no provision for it in
our budget. It is a customary payment rather than an entitlement. I began to
engage with the leaderships of the unions around this and explained to them
that it wouldn't be possible to continue. I think people are just disappointed
because they have always had it. I took time to explain to the staff that what
you are legally entitled to you would always get but what is not a legal
entitlement, a customary entitlement, can't be paid"she said
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