Staff of the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), have warned that the proposed new minimum wage may not materialize if the revenue formula is not addressed first.
In the early hours of Wednesday in Abuja staff of the RMAFC picketed the commission over poor funding and remuneration.
According to the Chairman of the Nigerian Civil Service Union (NCSU), unit of RMAFC, Comrade Josiah Amanabo, who addressed journalists in Abuja said “there is a clamour from states to review the revenue formula. The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, wants to hide under the guise that the revenue allocation formula is not ready, to delay the new minimum wage.
“If there is no revenue allocation formula, there cannot be new minimum wage in September. RMAFC is the commission to carry out the revenue formula review. We don’t even have the funds to do this assignment.
“Nigerians might be thinking that the commission is not competent to carry out these functions, not knowing that it is a result of paucity of funds.
“This is an urgent call to the President; if truly his government wants the commission to carry out its function within a short period of time, then, the provision of adequate funding is imperative.”
“The RMAFC is not an appendage to the ministry of finance, but an independent and autonomous body; for that singular reason, it is expected of us to do our job. We have chartered accountants and other professionals from every field of endeavour in this institution, why giving our job to consultants to do?
According to him, “we are being frustrated in the dispensing of our jobs due to poor funding and sometimes no funding at all.”
