Protest rocks Federal Ministry of Finance, over unpaid allowances
Tue Jun 21, 2016 07:46:am National
1.5K By Buchi Obichie
Staff of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Abuja, yesterday grounded activities at the Ministry for several hours, as they protested against their unpaid allowances which totals around N1.2bn.
The Finance Ministry staff were joined in the protest, by their counterparts from the Office of the Accountant- General of the Federation and Budget Office of the Ministry of Budget and National Planning.
The aggrieved staff claimed that the allowances, which include those for training and overtime, were unpaid for about two years.
They converged early in the morning and locked the gates of the Ministry to prevent the management from accessing the premises, while carrying various placards demanding for the removal of the Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun.
Some of the placards read: "PMB agent of positive change, Adeosun agent of negative change," "Adeosun score card is zero," "Kemi Adeosun must go," "You are destroying Federal Ministry of Finance," "Inflation is 15% courtesy of Adeosun," among others
However, the Ministry's Director of Information, Malam Salisu Dambatta said that the protest was unnecessary.
According to him, the special overtime allowance had been stopped since 2014 and therefore, can no longer be a subject of protest.
He said: "A joint protest by some staff of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Budget Office of the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, to back a demand for the payment of an unofficial allowance totaling N1.2 billion has been brought to the attention of the management of the Federal Ministry of Finance.
"The management wishes to state as follows: The payment of what the protesting staff called a special overtime, SOT, was stopped by the last administration in 2014 on the ground that it was not listed in any extant government Circular, Financial Regulations or the Public Service Rules."
The Finance Ministry staff were joined in the protest, by their counterparts from the Office of the Accountant- General of the Federation and Budget Office of the Ministry of Budget and National Planning.
The aggrieved staff claimed that the allowances, which include those for training and overtime, were unpaid for about two years.
They converged early in the morning and locked the gates of the Ministry to prevent the management from accessing the premises, while carrying various placards demanding for the removal of the Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun.
Some of the placards read: "PMB agent of positive change, Adeosun agent of negative change," "Adeosun score card is zero," "Kemi Adeosun must go," "You are destroying Federal Ministry of Finance," "Inflation is 15% courtesy of Adeosun," among others
However, the Ministry's Director of Information, Malam Salisu Dambatta said that the protest was unnecessary.
According to him, the special overtime allowance had been stopped since 2014 and therefore, can no longer be a subject of protest.
He said: "A joint protest by some staff of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Budget Office of the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, to back a demand for the payment of an unofficial allowance totaling N1.2 billion has been brought to the attention of the management of the Federal Ministry of Finance.
"The management wishes to state as follows: The payment of what the protesting staff called a special overtime, SOT, was stopped by the last administration in 2014 on the ground that it was not listed in any extant government Circular, Financial Regulations or the Public Service Rules."
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