….FG says protest Unjustifiable

Some staff of the Federal Ministry of Finance, office of the Accountant General of the Federation and that of Budget office today protested at the headquarters of the Finance Ministry over non-payment of N1.2 billion special overtime (SOT).

The protesting workers said these allowances were owed but not settled by the Buhari administration.

However, a statement from the Finance Ministry signed by the Director of Information, Salisu Na’inna Dambatta and made available to Economic Confidential in Abuja said the payment of what the protesting staff called a Special Overtime (SOT), was stopped by the last administration in 2014 on the ground that it was not listed in any extant government Circular, Financial Regulations or the Public Service Rules;

It further said the sum of N1.2 billion computed by the staff union for payment could not have been budgeted for in 2016 in the first place, not only because of the paucity of funds, but also the fact that the SOT allowance was not part of the remuneration in the Federal Public Service; and

It noted that the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Budget Office of the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, do not individually or collectively, owe any of their personnel their salaries, stressing that the protests have no justifiable grounds.