Kemi Adeosun
The Federal Ministry of Finance says the joint protest organized by some staff of the Federal Ministry of Finance; Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Budget Office of the Ministry of Budget and National Planning on Monday, to back their demand for the payment of N1.2 billion, which they claimed to be outstanding allowances, has no justifiable grounds.
The staff of the ministry had on Monday, paralysed activities at the Federal Ministry of Finance, demanding the sack of Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun, and barricading entrances to the office complex, to press home their demands.
But in a statement issued by Salisu Na’Inna Danbatta, Director of Information, the Ministry of Finance contended that the payment of what the protesting staff called a Special Overtime (SOT) was stopped by the last administration in 2014 on the ground that it was not listed in any extant government Circular, Financial Regulations or the Public Service Rules.
The sum of N1.2 billion computed by the staff union for payment, the Ministry said, could not have been budgeted for in 2016 in the first place, not only because of the paucity of funds, but also the fact that the SOT allowance was not part of the remuneration in the Federal Public Service.
The statement also indicated that the “Federal Ministry of Finance, the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Budget Office of the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, do not individually or collectively, owe any of their personnel their salaries.”
WhatsApp us