FG May Slash Civil Servants’ Salaries To Cut Cost: Minister

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the salaries committee to review payroll and also review the number of agencies.

The government will also remove some unnecessary items from the budget as a move to cut the cost of governance in the country.

Zainab disclosed this at the ongoing ‘National Policy Dialogue on Corruption and Cost of Governance in Nigeria’ held in Abuja on Tuesday.

“We still see government expenditure increase to a terrain twice higher than our revenue,” Ahmed said.

The Finance boss said all agencies must come together to trim its cost amid the country’s dwindling revenue.

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She said, “We need to work together, all agencies of the government to cut down our cost. We need to cut down unnecessary expenditures. Expenditures that we can do without.

“Our budgets are filled year in year out with projects that we see over and over again and also projects that are not necessary.

“Mr President has directed that the salaries committee that I chair, work together with the head of service and other members of the committee to review the government pay rolls in terms of stepping down on cost.”

She revealed that the FG will also review the number of government agencies in terms of their mandates.

Ahmed disclosed that for agencies with the same mandate the government will look at “how to merge the two.”