FOR THE RECORD: FG Introduces Automated Payment Of Salaries, Allowances

Minister of Finance Mrs Kemi Adeosun

The Federal Government is alarmed that it is spending ₦165 billion every month on salaries and allowances of workers across the country.

The Nation report continues:

To find a way of reducing the huge wage bill, President Muhammdu Buhari has directed the compulsory automation of payment of workers’ salaries and allowances as a means of reducing the cost of governance.

Speaking when serving Chiefs under the federal ministry of interior came to the ministry of finance to plug into the payment automation exercise, the Minister of Finance Mrs Kemi Adeosun said President Muhammadu Buhari wants everybody to be on the automated payment system which will lead to improvement in financial control and transparency.

Adeosun then lamented that the government spends ₦165 billion every month on payment of salaries and allowances a development which has now made it necessary to automate this payments.

With regards to capturing the biometric details of members of the military and other security agencies, the finance minister disclosed that the military has been asked to design a road map for securing their information and assured other security agencies that their security dates will be adequately protected.

Also speaking at the event, the Permanent Secretary, federal ministry of interior Mr. Bassey Akpanyung said the presidential directive to automate the payment systems to enable government know who is being paid and the number of personnel in its services to help determine if any services requires more men or is over staffed.

The Ministry of Finance’s Director of Special Projects, who is in charge of the continuous audit exercise, Mr. Mohammed Dikwa said the essences of the automation of the payment is that there is need to look carefully to make sure that all those areas of leakages are blocked, “and we have come up with a plan to implement this programme.”

Dikwa also revealed that “as at today, since we started the continuous audit programme, we have saved about ₦50 billion and over 43,000 ghost workers have been removed from the payroll of the federal government.”