Finance Ministry staff protest non-payment of N1.2 bn allowances

…Ask for Adeosun’s removal
…protests unnecessary, says ministry spokesman
Activities were grounded at the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Abuja, for several hours, Monday, as staff demonstrated against their unpaid allowances put at about N1.2 billion. The staffs of the main ministry were joined by their counterparts from the Office of the Accountant- General of the Federation and the Budget Office of the Ministry of Budget and National Planning,
The allowances which the demonstrating workers claimed were unpaid for about two years were those for Special Overtime and Training. The protesting staff had converged very early in the morning and locked the gates of the ministry to prevent the management from accessing the premises. The placard carrying protesters demanded the removal of Mrs. Adeosun whom they branded brought negative change to the ministry.
Some of the placards read: “PMB agent of positive change, Adeosun agent of negative change” “Adeosun score card is zero;” “Kemi Adeosun must go; You are destroying Federal Ministry of fiancé”
“Inflation is 15% courtesy of Adeosun.” However, the Ministry’s Director of Information, Mal. Salisu Na’Inna Dambatta said that the protests was unnecessary.
According to him, the Special Overtime allowance had been stopped since 2014 and therefore can no longer be a subject of protests. The full statement reads: “A joint protest 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, to back a demand for the payment of an unofficial allowance totaling N1.2 billion has been brought to the attention of the Management of the Federal Ministry of Finance. “The Management wishes to state as follows: 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 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 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.
“In view of the foregone, the Management of the Federal Ministry of Finance wishes to categorically state that the protests have no justifiable grounds.”