Staff Salaries Should Be Paid By The 25th Of Every Month – Buhari

The Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Ahmed Idris, says the Federa

l Government plans to begin payment of staff salaries by the 25th of every month, as

 directed byPresident Muhammadu Buhari.

Idris, who disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday, said “this is going to be given a test, I believe, by this month”.

The AGF also said that the government was working on a new arrangement, which, if 

approved, would ensure payment of the salaries before the monthly meeting of the 

Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC).

According to him, usually, salaries are paid after the FAAC meeting, where revenue

 accruing to the federation’s account are shared between the federal, state and local 

governments.

There is a standing instruction of Mr President to pay salary on or before 24th or 25th 

of every month and we will try as much as possible to comply and to abide by that. 

We are taking a step further to make a provision whereby we can accommodate 

salary payments even before FAAC.

This is going to be given a test I believe by this month. We will go to seek for necessary 

approval of our political masters to make sure that at least salary and other statutory

 payments are made even before FAAC. Because we can project how much they are 

and therefore we can prepare and hit the ground running to make them realisable 

and actualised. Even where we delay FAAC, we can still pay salary.

Idris dispelled the widely held belief that the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy is

 responsible for the delay in the payment of salaries and attributed the situation to the 

crash in global oil prices, which has affected the inflow of income to the country.

“Nigeria is practically making about 30 to 40 per cent of what it used to make by way of 

revenue from oil and that has affected inflow generally. These inflows are what the federal

, state and local governments receive to service the economy. It is when we receive these

 resources and sit at the end of the month for FAAC that the resources are shared among

 the three tiers of government.”

Citing the benefits of TSA, Idris said that more than N2.7 trillion had been realised under 

a single account domiciled at the Central Bank of Nigeria.

He also said that the cost of borrowing by government agencies had been reduced 

substantially and that the economy was already a beneficiary of the policy.

“The monies are stimulating the economy in a way that delivery of social goods, services 

and efficiency in government expenditure are being achieved. So I believe that they are 

already serving the purpose for which they are meant and they are within the economy.”

He said he was optimistic having seen the benefits of the TSA policy to the Federal 

Government, states governments would key into it.

NAN