The Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Plc‘s Board of Directors is asenate-reveals-n13bn-unauthorized-raise-at-mint-firmccused of paying a N14 billion wage rise to all of its employees without the National Salaries Wages, Incomes and Wages Commission’s approval, according to information revealed by the Senate on Monday.
When the NSPMC management went before the Senate Public Accounts Committee in regards to the 2019 report of the Auditor-General of the Federation, Senator Ahmed Wadada, the committee’s chairman, learned of this at a meeting in the Red Chamber in Abuja.
According to the Auditor-General’s report, the NSPMC Board of Directors authorized N14 billion in compensation and benefits between 2016 and 2019 without the regulatory authority for salaries and wages’ consent.
In accordance with Article 3 of the NSIWC Act,1990, the commission was tasked with advising the federal government on matters pertaining to national income policy, recommending the percentages of income growth that should be allocated to general wage increases, informing the federal government of both emerging and current wage trends, and proposing guidelines that would limit wage increases, among other things.
However, Ahmed Halilu, the Managing Director of NSPMC, asserted in his written response that since the company was incorporated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act, it was exempt from the salaries and wages regulatory body’s approval.
Subsequently, the managing director acknowledged before the Senate Committee on Public Accounts that the corporation made a mistake by failing to obtain approval from the NSIWC before to implementing the increased salary and allowance increases.
Halilu went on, “We’ve noticed that getting approval is a need before we can raise compensation. Wages are paid over a period of three years. Given the amount of work completed by thousands of employees at this time, it was not misappropriated on this basis.
Almost every committee member expressed dissatisfaction with the illicit payment in their responses, citing the lack of due process surrounding the use of public funds.
Senator Nwebonyi Onyeka, the Deputy Whip of the Senate, clarified that government funds were disbursed without following the proper procedures and added that the embezzled funds ought to be reimbursement.
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