Mass retrenchment looms in FCTA

[PeoplesDaily]

Influx into Abuja worries minister

By Adeola Tukuru

The huge wage bill and staggering overhead cost incurred by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) is currently constituting a source of worry to the authority which has ordered for an inter-departmental staff audit to pave way for downward right sizing.

This is coming on the heels of concerns over mass influx of people into Abuja from the states affected by security threats, and the inadequate infrastructure to accommodate the emergency.

Staff salary of about N4billion computed for the month of April has yet to be paid because FCTA authority was jolted by the figure which it perceived could hamper the operations of other sectors of the administration if drastic measures are not taken to expose the culprits suspected to be bloating the Authorities monthly wage bills, our findings have indicated.

"At the end of this audit, I can assure you that heads will roll because we will bring whoever is responsible to book, no matter his position and standing," a senior official close to the minister said.

Already, directors from all departments were summoned to an emergency meeting last Thursday and Friday to examine the strength of staff in their various departments and to reconcile same with the wage bill accruing to them.

Although the audit of staff is to cut across all sectors, specific attention is to be given to the departments of Education and Health which are believed to be main conduits used by some people in authority to drain it of scarce resources, it was learnt.

For instance, so many non-teaching staff in the education, personnel and administration departments are being paid teaching allowances monthly while overtime allowances paid to personnel of the health department are eliciting questions.

The audit is also expected to fish out ghost workers, including dead staffers who have not been delisted, and other fictional names smuggled in through sharp practices, according to our checks.

Inside sources reliably informed Peoples Daily that the minister has already informed the House of Representatives through its committee on FCT on the development.

Just last week, the House, which serves as the approving authority for the budget of the FCT, approved the sum of N259 billion to be spent by the FCTA in 2013.

The FCTA administration said in a response yesterday that the main problem is with the education department which incurs the monthly wage bill of about N2billion, half of the overall bill paid to all workers in the FCTA.

According to Nosike Ogbuenyi, the Special Assistant on media to the FCT minister, the education department has over employed teachers across disciplines in recent time without giving preference to science subjects as it should be.

He said there is an influx of people into Abuja from states threatened by insecurity, adding that most of them sought transfer of service to the education department of the FCTA and were absorbed without the knowledge of the minister.

He said unless the federal government does something urgent to address the situation, the burden may be too much on the FCTA.

Ogbuenti also said that part of the delay in the payment of April salary was due to the late passage of the 2013 budget, the implementation of which may not start immediately.

Meanwhile, the Minister of FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed had directed a thorough staff audit of all teaching and non-teaching staff of Education Secretariat.

He said the audit should be carried out through direct table payment of their pending monthly salary.

The Minister said the directive has become necessary following observation that there was high rate of redundancy, duplication, complacency and truancy in the education sector. He also stated that there could be cases of ghost workers in the sector.

According to the Minister, a situation whereby FCT carries a monthly wage bill of about N1.6 billion for the Education Secretariat alone which is about 45 percent of the total monthly wage bill of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, can no longer be tolerated.

He described the wage bill of the FCT as the highest in the federation noting that the staff structure of the Education Secretariat, due to its strategic position, should be based on need.

The total staff strength of the Education Secretariat is currently 14,000 excluding primary schools teachers.

The post Mass retrenchment looms in FCTA appeared first on Peoples Daily Newspaper, Nigeria.

Peoples Daily Newspaper