Labour unions have lambasted the Federal Government for slashing the supplementary budgetary allocation for wage awards to federal civil servants by one hundred billion naira, warning that this was not the agreement they had with the government.
Data obtained from the newly Revised 2023 Supplementary Budget, according to reports, indicated that the government swapped the controversial five billion naira presidential yacht votes for Navy barges, increased the budget for defence from N476.54bn to N546.21bn and earmarked N20bn as capital supplementation for the National Intelligence Agency.
It was gathered that in the proposed document, the four-month wage award was to cost the Federal Government around N210bn. However, the approved and newly revised document showed that it would now cost the Federal Government about N110bn.
Commenting on the development, the Assistant General Secretary, Nigeria Labour Congress, Chris Onyeka, said the agreement was for the government to raise the wages of federal civil servants and not to reduce them.
He said, “Are you saying they cut down the wage awards by N100bn? Well, we have been talking about the high cost of governance and if they decided to reduce their bills by cutting down their numerous aides and assistants, that’s alright.
“But if it is that they don’t want to pay workers what they are supposed to pay, then there is a problem. How can you subject workers to further reductions in their salaries? No way! We agreed to a wage award of N35,000 to all federal workers, so the wage award has to increase.”
Meanwhile, the National Deputy President, TUC, Tommy Etim, warned the Federal Government against playing games with the wage award for Nigerian workers, noting that the instrument of agreement reached was deposited in the court.
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