Cutting Down Our Salaries Will Be Seen As An Invitation For War- ASCSN Tells Buhari

The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria has cautioned
the sitting president, Muhammadu Buhari not to listen to advice of some groups
in Nigeria clamouring for the reduction in salaries of civil servants in the
country to cut cost in governance.

In a statement issued yesterday in Abuja by the President of
ASCSN, Mr. Bobboi Kaigama, and Secretary-General, Alade Lawal, they noted that it
was criminal for anybody or group of persons to contemplate cutting down the
salaries of civil servants. Continue…

“Any attempt by the new government to reduce the salaries of
workers will be viewed as an invitation for war by the labour movement,” the
ASCSN said. The statement further went to say, servants “are already being
underpaid in a country where the government has reneged on all its
responsibilities to the citizenry.”

“Any attempt by the new government to reduce the salaries of
workers will be viewed as an invitation for war by the labour movement. As we
speak, many states owe civil servants bulk of monthly salaries and other
rightful entitlements and yet, these workers are expected to come to work by
magic, feed their families, stay healthy, pay rent and children school fees.

“It must be recognised that civil servants pay has lost its
value since the last increment done in 2010. The subsidy removal, devaluation
of the naira and the high rate of infrastructural decay has continued to rub
innocent civil servants of the value of their money despite being paid peanuts.

“What is being contemplated as pay cut for political office
holders cannot be extended to civil servants because you cannot compare the two
pay structures. While a Director in the civil service goes home with less than
N353,996.94 monthly, a member of the National Assembly collects close to
$181,973.75 or 40m monthly,” the statement said.