Anxiety grips civil servants over looming job cuts

Anxiety has gripped the rank and file of federal civil servants over imminent downsizing and rightsizing as efforts are already in top gear to cut their numbers to avoid huge salary payments put around N164 billion monthly, The Guardian has learnt.

Apart from the over-bloated wage bill the Federal Government had to contend with, reliable source also revealed that particular attention is focusing on the Directorate Cadre of merged ministries as well as ghost workers, which has led to duplication of duties, which government also feel is responsible for poor service delivery.

The source also has it that the only way the Directorate Cadre could be spared from the impending rightsizing or downsizing is hinged on the creation of new cadres where such affected workers could serve better.

A source from the Presidency informed The Guardian that ministers have been told to lead the initiatives on downsizing

A publication of The Guardian of May 16, 2016 had revealed that the efficiency unit in the Federal Ministry of Finance, which is saddled with designing cost saving strategies, is currently working on the template for the reduction of workers.

“The Federal Government would also be relying on the report of the Steve Oronsaye’s panel on the rationalization of civil servants in the streamlining process,” the publication noted.

At a recent forum in Abuja, the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun has also said that the government can no longer sustain the salaries of Federal civil servants.

Adeosun, who gave the figure as amounting to N165 billion monthly, noted that the amount represents about 40 percent of total government expenditure and added that it doesn’t reflect the real situation.

She said the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) introduced by the President Jonathan administration was faulty, defective and sabotaged by elements that she said, were benefiting from the salary fraud.

The minister stated that, it is shocking that the Nigerian Railway Corporation, which was not fully functioning, still had 10,000 workers in its payroll serviced by government.