Employment embargo a ticking time bomb- Senator Ndume

Senator Ali Ndume (APC, Borno South) has said the employment embargo policy is a ticking time bomb due to millions of unemployed youths in the country.

The Senate had criticized the Federal Government yesterday for placing an embargo on employment in 2018 even though recurrent expenditure keep rising annually.

The Senate’s dissatisfaction towards the embargo stemmed from submissions made by the Chairman of National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission (NSIWC), Mr. Ekpo Nta, before the Senate Committee on Establishment.

The committee was further infuriated when Nta was unable to inform the committee of the number of salaries and wages the Federal Government pays its workforce annually.

The committee wondered why recurrent expenditure in yearly budgets is not decreasing despite the embargo at various agencies.

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On this issue, Senator Ndume said, “A time bomb is ticking because of the doors shut against millions of youths seeking employment. Making it worrisome is the fact that despite the policy, since 2018 till now, recurrent expenditure components of yearly budgets have been increasing.

“In 2018, it was N3.5 trillion, N4 trillion in 2019, N4.5 trillion in 2020, N5.6 trillion 2021 and N6.83 trillion in the projected N16.39 trillion 2022 budget. It is bad for recurrent expenditure to be increasing on yearly basis without an increase in the number of workforces through required recruitments.

“The embargo is turning to a time bomb that can explode at anytime, as witnessed in some countries in recent past. Personally, I’m already thinking of where to run to if the avoidable crisis is not averted”, he added.

Read full article on The Guardian.