The Federal Government is set to address the issue of pay disparity among government workers in the country, as the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, NSIWC, yesterday, said it has been directed to harmonize salaries of various Ministries, Department and Agencies of government, MDA. In a statement in Abuja, Executive Chairman of the NSIWC, Mr. Richard Egbule, disclosed that the commission work in this regard would center on bringing the issue of pay disparity in the public service to a tolerable level. This, according to the Commission, would bring to a tolerable level, the issue of pay disparity in the public service. Egbule, who was speaking during the Commission’s budget defense in the House of Representatives Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs, noted that achieve an enduring harmonization, efforts are being made to have a comprehensive review of grading system in the public service. He added that, “Without the inputs of National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, the efforts put in the National Minimum wage would have been in vain as all the computation relating to its implementation were generated from the Commission.”
Egbule noted that the commission achieved an implementation level of 74 per cent of the 2018 budget which he hoped the 2019 budget of the Commission would surpass. He further stated that the greatest problem bedeviling the Commission was the issue of office accommodation after 25 years of its existence. According to him, it was because of lack of office space that the Commission could not recruit in the last 10 years, adding that the need for more office space had become more pressing. He noted that the Commission operates from six different locations, which according to him would not enhance the building of a distinct organizational culture, but added that necessary contacts had been made to ameliorate the situation including a courtesy visit to the Minister of FCT.
Also speaking Chairman, House of Representative Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs, Alhaji Husseini Kangiwa called on the Commission to make the issue of office space a priority and build it in its budget and bring to the National Assembly to back it up. He noted that an important agency like the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission that is at the heart of workers welfare should have a befitting building of its own. Kangiwa advised the Chairman, National Salaries Incomes and Wages Commission, to liaise with various agencies including the SGF on the issue of office space and accommodation for the Commission. Vanguard
Pix: Pesidentmhammadu Buhari
