In what can only be termed a bitter truth, Central Bank of Nigeria
Governor Mallam Sanusi Lamido on Tuesday called on the Federal
Government to fire at least 50 per cent of its entire workforce.
Sanusi, who was shooting from the hips, made the call in his
presentation at the Second Annual Capital Market Committee Retreat in
Warri, Delta State. He lamented the practice where 70 per cent of the
nations’s budget is spent on salaries and entitlements of civil
servants.
Sanusi, at the retreat on Tuesday, once again drew attention to the
nation’s over bloated government machinery and advocated a more compact
and less expensive system of government that would reduce overhead
costs.
He said, “At the moment 70 per cent of Federal Government’s revenue
goes for payment of salaries and entitlement of civil servants, leaving
30 per cent for development of 167 million Nigerians. That means that
for every naira government earns, 70 kobo is consumed by civil servants.
“You have to fire half of the civil service because the revenue of
the government is supposed to be for 167 million Nigerians. Any society
where government spends 70 per cent of its revenue on its civil service
has a problem. It is unsustainable.
“The various tiers of government should cut down their recurrent
expenditure and use the fund to provide basic infrastructure like
schools, hospital, etc.
