Subsidy Removal: Nigeria Risks Losing Billions As State Govts Reduce Working Days
Nigeria stands the risk of losing billions of Naira in revenue over some state government’s plan to reduce working days by civil servants.
This is coming after two states – Edo and Kwara reduced their working days for state employees from 5 to 3 days a week in a bid to cushion the impact of subsidy removal on workers.
The recent removal of petrol subsidy has unleashed some negative consquences on Nigerian citizens across the country, having raised the cost of fuel by over 200 per cent, and putting a strain on the pocket of average car owners and commuters in the country. It has also led to a spike in transportation fares, which in some cases rose by greater margins.
In turn, these have translated into higher prices of goods and services, since these activities themselves are dependent on transportation which now cost much higher.
In a statement, Kwara State Chief Press Secretary Murtala Atoyebi, said that “the government was set to provide succour for workers who could not be covered by the reduction in workdays due to the peculiar nature of their official duties.
Atoyebi’s statement followed Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki’s announcement that the move will also see employees working from home during the reduced working days.
“The Edo State Government is hereby reducing the number of work days that civil and public servants will have to commute to their workplaces from five days a week to three days a week till further notice. Workers will now work from home two days a week”, Obaseki said.
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This development has thrown up heated debate as economic experts who spoke to Economic Confidential said the reduction in working days was inimical to the growth and development of the nation.
According to them, the development will kill productivity.
The Managing Director, APT Securities, Kurfi Garba, said the decision by the states is a panic reaction, adding that it was important that Nigerians see this subsidy removal as a search for an equilibrium price that will be affordable for Nigerians so that the economy can continue to grow.
“They ought to put into consideration the hours that will be lost due to this reduction in work days. For a country where labour productivity is low, this measure will only exacerbate an existing problem”, Garba said.
For his part, the first Deputy National Chairman of Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the president of Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), Tommy Etim Okon, said that the concept of reducing the working days to curb the impact of the removal of subsidy will not help the economy as there are right palliatives needed to be put in place to sustain it.
Okon further explained that the current development will lead to a decline in states’ internal generated revenue (IGR) and urged state governors to seek ways of easing the burden of transportation in their various states.
He said, “If the states can procure vehicles that can solve the immediate need of the workers; which is transportation to and fro and also make mobility for the non-workers, that would go a long way. It would also enable the farmers to bring their produce from the hinterland to the markets. Anything short of that would create a problem that would snowball into economic crises if not well managed.
Nigeria is bereaved of credible data, and I do not like acting on estimation, but the reality is on ground that the impact would be huge”.