Workers
of the Federal Ministry of Finance yesterday staged a peaceful protest
at the ministry’s headquarters in Abuja, demanding the removal of the
Minister, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun.
The workers accused the minister of not paying their allowances to
the tune of N1.2 billion even when she has collected N30 million as
annual house rent. The workers also displayed placards with various
inscriptions, saying that Mrs. Adeosun has become an agent of negative
change.
The various placards read: “Kemi Adeosun must go, You are destroying
federal ministry of finance, inflation is 15 percent courtesy of
Adeosun, PMB agent of positive change, Adeosun agent of negative change,
Adeosun score card is zero.”
Meanwhile, a statement from the Director of Information in the Ministry,
Salisu Na’Inna Dambatta, said: ‘’The 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 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; and 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.’’
The statement further said that in view of the foregone, the
management of the Federal Ministry of Finance wishes to categorically
state that the protests have no justifiable grounds; there was no basis
for the workers’ protest.
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