The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, Thursday, said the ministry
cannot afford to pay the N1.2 billion requested by its workers, while
she confirmed that the Federal Government was already borrowing funds to
be able to pay the N165 billion a month needed to cover civil service
salaries.
Adeosun, in a statement in Abuja, after the meeting held
with protesting workers of the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday, said
she does not have any power to pay N1.2 billion, which was not in the
budget of the Ministry.
According to her, all government departments
currently face a very real squeeze in finances as the country grapples
with the financial crisis inherited from previous administrations,
adding also that the collective priority, therefore, must be on working
together to get the whole economy back on its feet.
She stated that
the most important thing for management and staff was to get a common
understanding of what the government needed to do to regain financial
stability.
She said she intend to work with staff of the Finance
Ministry to see how, together, those plans could be implemented as
quickly as possible, thereby stimulating growth within a new diversified
economy.
She expressed understanding for the Ministry of Finance
staff who felt they should get additional bonuses, based on their past
dealings with the previous administration, while she pointed out that
many people across the country were struggling to find work or losing
their
jobs, in addition to the fact that fellow civil servants in many states are not getting their salaries.
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