Outrage Over N2.4 Million Monthly Salary Per Junior Staff at PenCom
- There is outrage over the purported salary structure of the National Pension Commission (PenCom)
- The House of Representative panel is investigating the N12.02 billion submitted by the Commission for salaries
- According to a member of the panel, a document submitted by PenCom shows that a staff of PenCom earns as much as N2.4 million as a monthly salary
Nigeria’s House of Representatives on Finance is investigating the National Pension Commission (PenCom) salary structure and is demanding thorough scrutiny.
In an interactive session on Thursday, September 15, 2022, the panel discovered that the Commission had budgeted N12.02 billion for staff salaries and N2.5 billion for other staff costs for this year.
Source: Getty Images
Lawmakers baffled over huge salaries
The lawmakers raised queries after the Director-General of PenCom, Aisha Dahiru-Umar, said the Commission has about N500 staff members but needed to pay them a competitive salary, so they don’t become compromised.
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Premium Times reported that Dahiru-Umar explained that the Commission could not afford to have workers that could be compromised and therefore needed training, capacity-building and competitive salary.
She said PenCom sources and retains highly-trained staff as well as build capacity.
She said the management of the Commission does not compromise because they are well remunerated and earn more than the entities they oversee.
Outrageous salary structure worries lawmaker
A committee member, Aminu Suleiman, said he found that after a rough mental estimate, he discovered that staff at PenCom earns about N2.4 million monthly.
But the DG disagreed and said that the N12.02 billion includes allowances and training for Commission staff members.
Suleiman drew the DG’s attention to a document that stated that the N12 billion was explicitly for salaries and moved a motion that the Commission provide details of the salaries of the Commission.
Breakdown of PenCom budget
The Rep member claimed that PenCom budgeted N12.3 billion for salaries, the document brought by the Commission's DG to the committee indicates that the approved budget for the Commission for salaries in 2022 was N15 billion and N2, billion for other expenses.
The figure cited by Suleiman is the MTEF projected figure, which is not the same thing as the actual approved figure.
How Federal Government Ministries and agencies padded 2021,2022 budget with N300 billion, says ICPC
Recall that Legit.ng reported that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission disclosed on Thursday, September 15, 2022, that the N13.59 trillion 2021 budget was heavily padded by various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) with duplicitous projects worth N300 billion.
The Punch reports that the anti-graft agency Chairman, Professor Bolaji Owasanoye, disclosed this during a meeting with Senate Committee on Finance.
Owasanoye also stated that about N100 billion worth of projects were inserted into the N17.12 trillion budget for 2022 by some MDAs, and N49.9 billion was tracked as salaries for non-existent workers between January and June last year.
Source: Legit.ng
