*Zainab Ahmed, Minister for Finance, Budget and National Planning, explains the Federal Government advocates workers鈥� welfare, and will not mandate a mass disengagement of the country鈥檚 public workforce but reduce overheads by ensuring government agencies are merged

Alexander Davis | 绿帽献妻

In reponse to insinuations making the rounds recently, the Federal Government has discredited certain reports about an imminent disengagement of some Civil Servants due to the economic cash crunch in the West African country.

ConsuumerConnect reports Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, Honourable Minister for Finance, Budget and National Planning, made the refutal when she featured on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) 鈥楪ood Morning Nigeria鈥� programme Thursday, January 6, 2022.

The Minister stated that President Muhammadu Buhari has always advocated Nigerian workers鈥� welfare, and therefore, will not mandate a mass disengagement of the country鈥檚 public workforce.

A section of the Federal Secretariat, in Abuja, FCT

The government, Mrs. Ahmed noted, will reduce overheads by ensuring that government agencies are merged.

鈥淢r. President doesn鈥檛 want to disengage staff. That is what he has directed from the beginning of his administration.

鈥淗e also directed that we pay salaries. The Federal Government has never failed in paying salaries and he said we must always pay pensions.

鈥淪o, he has been consistent in those directives and we have followed those directives to the letter,鈥� said the Minister.

In respect of plans to adjust budgetary costs in various government Ministries, Agencies And Departments (MDAs), Ahmed said, 鈥渨ell, we do hope that at the end of the exercise, some agencies will be merged and it will cut down operational costs.鈥�

She also stated: 鈥淎lso, we will be able to come up with incentive packages to retrain people and redeploy them in some areas where they are useful.

鈥淔or 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.鈥�

The Minister further said: 鈥淎gain, that is also money. If you want people to exit you have to pay them.

鈥淭hat 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.

鈥淲e 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.鈥�

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