Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to make sure that his government fully implements the contents of the 2016 federal budget when it is passed by the National Assembly.
The Association is particularly excited by the aspect of the N6.08 Trillion budget where the President spoke about recruiting 500,000 unemployed graduates and holders of National Certificate of Education (NCE) as teachers to curb the escalating rate of unemployment in the country.
In a statement issued in Lagos today, the ASCSN President, Bobboi Bala Kaigama, and the Secretary-General, Alade Bashir Lawal said: “we also commend Mr. President for his decision to ensure that all the Federal Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) are captured and brought under the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) because this will not only reduce the burden of manual preparation of payrolls but also curb cases of sharp practices in the system.”
The Association commended the President for resolving to implement the government’s cash transfer programme, even as it stressed the need for the policy to be transparent and inclusive without discrimination.
“We must equally express joy in the decision of Government to make good its promise to provide a meal per day for primary school pupils.”
ASCSN, however, frowned at the decision of the government that fuel subsidy would not be removed “for now,” saying that the impression had been created that it might be removed later, especially as there is no provision was made for fuel subsidy in the budget estimate.
It called for the meeting of all stakeholders, including labour, to discuss the subsidy issue. It argued that the price of crude oil in the international market had reduced drastically, and that the template being used to arrive at the price of fuel should be reviewed downward commensurably.
“If that is done, it is doubtful if the price of petrol will be up to ₦70 per litre,” the union stated.
The Union observed the level of deficit financing in the budget put at ₦2.22 trillion and posited that it was on the high side and advised the Government to work very hard in the area of looted funds recovery as that would go a long way to shore up government revenue and thereby mitigate the negative impact which the quantum of deficit would have on the entire economy.
“On the whole, the union expressed happiness that instead of talking about austerity measures, the government has decided to put more money in the economy, a scenario that has the potential of bringing more resources to the poorest of Nigerians which would also impact positively on major economic variables.” [myad]
