THE Federal Government may have reduced overhead expenditure in the Executive and Legislative arms by 30 per cent in the face of rising personnel cost, which increased from N850 billion to N1.3 trillion between 2009 and 2010.

The government has also removed 43,000 “ghost workers” from its payroll in the last one year, as part of efforts to scale down the burgeoning recurrent expenditure, currently assailing the nation’s economy.

Former Finance Minister, Olusegun Aganga, who made these disclosures in Lagos on Saturday, said over N12 billion was saved from the personnel audit, which exposed the ghost workers.

Aganga, who spoke shortly after receiving the Young Men’s Christian Association’s award for exemplary public office life, said the trimming down of the payroll was achieved through the implementation of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), set up by the government for its Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs).

“As part of the Federal Government’s efforts to reduce the level of recurrent expenditure, in particular, personnel cost, which represents more than 50 per cent of recurrent expenditure, we have deepened the implementation of the IPPIS programme in the last one year and have identified 43,000 names, which should not have been on the payroll. This will lead to considerable savings,” he said.

The exercise, according to him, covered 112,000 workers under the first phase of the IPPIS in the three-phased programme.

Aganga, who has already been returned to President Goodluck Jonathan’s new cabinet, said the implementation of the IPPIS in the 36 MDAs had been divided into three phases and that the first phase, covering seven MDAs, saved the country over N12 billion.

The savings represent the difference between releases to the MDAs based on their nominal roll submissions before enrolment into the IPPIS and the actual salaries paid through IPPIS after the exercise.

According to the minister, who may now head the newly-created Trade and Investment Ministry, the second and third phases will cover 11 and 18 MDAs respectively.

He said: “We had to take action to reduce the overhead cost, that was why we introduced the IPPIS, where you take workers’ bio-data, through biometric process, and have their salaries paid directly through bank accounts. We’ve done that in 36 MDAs, but the exercise is ongoing. When it is completed, we expect to see considerable savings.”

He added that in the 2011 budget, the government has also reduced the level of overhead for both the Executive and the Legislature by 30 per cent and the level of borrowing from about N1.3 trillion to N850 billion.

Aganga, however, said that the nation would need to deepen the fiscal consolidation, with the 2011 budget signalling the beginning of the fiscal consolidation process.

“The introduction of the performance-based budgeting, where every penny spent has to be accounted for, is also to reduce government expenditure, while the multi-year budgeting system will reduce the incidence of uncompleted projects.”

According to him, it has now become imperative to effectively monitor projects, ensure their completion, under the government’s agenda that now guarantees continuity for assessed worthwhile policy implementation.

To leverage on the current achievements, Aganga said the government would vigorously pursue a national re-orientation programme, to restore lost values and tackle corruption.

“Once in Nigeria, we had a society where genuine service to others was routine, where people’s lives were constructed around the simple notion that ‘you shall do nothing to bring the family name to shame’, where you paid for goods left by the roadside even if the seller was nowhere in sight, where you kept an eye on your neighbour’s child as if he were yours. And if you strayed, you accepted penalty for your transgression. That was the natural order then, a good one that gave all and sundry peace of mind.

“But we lost these values over the years. The realisation of this fact motivated me to establish the Nigeria Leadership Initiative in 2006. The vision was to bring together some of the most accomplished Nigerians in Nigeria and the Diaspora to play a role in transforming this great country. NLI provides the platform for leaders to sharpen or develop their values-based leadership skills to be able to play a role in the needed transformation,” he added.

-Guardian

Posted by admin on Jul 10 2011. Filed under Latest Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry