Each time they give me the payroll number, I get so frightened, Tinubu bemoans bloated civil service

President Bola Tinubu, on Monday, lamented the bloated nature of the Federal Civil Service as the country continues to struggle with revenue to cope with the requisite infrastructure and salary commitments.

Tinubu spoke on Monday while hosting Andres Arroyo, vice-president of the information technology firm Oracle, at the State House, according to a statement by Ajuri Ngelale, the president’s special assistant on media and publicity.

The past administration of President Muhammadu Buhari had planned to spend a whopping N5.33trn on payment of salaries of civil servants in the 2023 fiscal period.

The figure was contained in the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework 2023-2025 which was prepared by the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.

Analysis of the document showed that the amount projected for personnel costs rose from the current N4.33trn approved in the 2022 federal government budget to N5.33trn in 2023.

Speaking on the expenditure on Monday, President Tinubu expressed concern about the country’s “bloated” civil service payroll at the national and sub-national levels, noting that the wage bill consumes a large proportion of the country’s revenue.

“Each time they give me the payroll number, I get so frightened. Where am I going to get the capital to develop the infrastructure we desperately require if the payroll of 1% – 2% of the population is consuming all the revenue?” the statement quoted Tinubu as saying.

Read Also: Tinubu is not worried, Presidential aide, Ngelale, speaks on upcoming tribunal judgement

He also expressed his readiness to incorporate technology into public service administration.

The president noted that technology helps to ensure that data from public institutions are accurate and transparent as well as aid accountability.

Tinubu’s enthusiasm was spurred by a collaboration between the government of Nigeria and Oracle, seeking to reform the country’s civil service and data management sector.

The president said Oracle’s proven success in the automation of the Lagos payroll system during his tenure as the governor of the state would help to ensure enhanced ease of doing business and digital innovation.

“I have tested Oracle and it has worked for our success. In Lagos State, what we did in effective collaboration with you, has been copied across the states of the Federation,” Tinubu said.

“We can only build our institutions with accurate data and cutting-edge data management capabilities that are reliable and effective. We can only rely upon our human resources for excellent service delivery to Nigerians if they are well-trained and ready to learn.

“The transfer of knowledge is essential for our nation and the continent. In this government, we believe that the only way to build our country is a bottom-up approach and from one single sheet of paper, we can create an end-to-end solution for public administration that will rid our service of its worst tendencies in favour of effectiveness and reliability.”

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