The protest against Kemi Adeosun

Newspapers and broadcast media have reported that some staff members of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Office of the Accountant-Gener­al of the Federation, Budget Office and the National Planning Minis­try had protested the non-payment of over N1.2bn arrears owed them in allowances and other claims for years and, in the process, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to sack the Finance Minister ‘for gross exhibition of insensitivity to their welfare and withholding payments due to the staff’.

The protesters also alleged that the Finance Minister ‘had conclud­ed plans to cancel forthwith, such long standing entitlements and benefits ….’. If the allegations are true, then the protests were (and are still) in order. On assumption of office, President Muhammadu Buhari was quoted as saying that he would not like any pensioner or serving worker to be owed arrears of any kind. Nigerians had hailed him on that statement when it was made and had read his mind­set on the issue. By that statement, Buhari was construed as meaning he would like every serving offic­er or retiree to be paid promptly all their allowances, salaries benefits, pensions and gratuities – as against what obtained before he came into office.

Before he was sworn in as pres­ident, many federal civil servants were owed arrears of promotions (some dating back to ten years as what obtained in the Federal Min­istry of Education), duty-tour al­lowances, other approved and genuine claims and sundry sala­ry arrears!

After PMB spoke, peopleo who had been owed salaries and allowances for years heaved a sigh of relief that, after all, a Daniel had come to judgment. They became hopeful and waited for the sign­ing of the 2016 budget into law to get their money. During the delay in the signing of the 2016 budget, they had waited patiently.

However, after signing the budget into law, they had expect­ed that their money would be paid but their hopes were dashed, and till they protested, about 97% of the officers had not received their sal­ary arrears, claims, approved al­lowances, duty-tour allowances, 28 days’ payments in lieu of hotel accommodation for transferred of­ficers, and those officers had traced the non-payment to the ‘insensitiv­ity of the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun,’ as recently report­ed by the national dailies.

This is most unfortunate as it is not in tandem with the change mantra of the present administra­tion of PMB, and considering his heart-beat on this. I join other Ni­gerians and the protesting work­ers to urged the finance minister to listen to the protesters and effect the payments of the owed arrears amounting to more than N1.2bn. She should fall in line with the thinking of President Muham­madu Buhari as his finance min­ister. She must note that if she is comfortable financially as the fi­nance minister, many workers in the federal civil service may not be as that; they therefore need to re­ceive their salary and promotion arrears to survive; they need these owed monies to cater for their fam­ilies and be in tune with the cor­ruption-free posture of President Muhammadu Buhari’s adminis­tration that Nigerians have been hailing!

If Mrs. Adeosun cannot pay workers all that are due to them as the present administration had sig­nified, she may consider resigning so that someone else who can do that takes over from her - she must always be sensitive to the plight of workers.

Mrs Kemi Adeosun must be made to note that the non-pay­ment of owed forcing the officers of the federal civil service to be de­manding bribes and gratifications at the Federal Secretariat in Abuja and elsewhere before they render services to members of the public and even to their outside-working colleagues when they visit the sec­retariat for one problem or the oth­er, as I witnessed and experienced on many occasions.

These officers should be paid the arrears of the monies owed them. This is the only way to minimise the demand for money before they render services to members of the public and which has continued to portray the service and the coun­try in bad light, particularly to out­siders.

*Akoma wrote in from Aro­chukwu, Abia State