By Baron Ike
The Senate has expressed shock that a whopping N10.3billion is being spent annually by the Securities and Exchange Commission on salaries of its 600 staff members.
The upper legislative chamber made the observation during its ongoing stakeholders’ interactive session on the 2021-2023 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP), in Abuja.
The lawmakers noted that the staff strength of 600 and a wage bill of N10.3billion annually, amount to N15.7million per person annually.
Consequently, the lawmakers urged the Director-General of SEC, Lamido Yuguda to work on the wage bill by reducing the top heavy workforce in the commission.
The Chairman of the Senate Joint Committee on Finance and National Planning, Senator Solomon Adeola also directed the Commission to remit N300million into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) account of the Federal Government on before Thursday next week.
“I will implore the DG of SEC to between today and Thursday next week remit at least N300million to the coffers of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
“The DG said SEC generated a total revenue of N8.358billion in 2019 while it is expecting only N5.478billion and projecting N8.3billion in 2021.
“SEC should not pay less than N1billion to the CRF account in 2021. SEC has staff strength of 600 and a wage bill of N10.3billion annually, amounting to N15.7million per person annually. You are indeed, top heavy. You have to work on this”, Adeola said.
Earlier, the SEC DG, Lamido Yuguda had told the Senators that the Commission generated total revenue of N8.36billion in 2019 and was expecting N5.478billion this year and N8.3billion in 2021.
A member of the panel, Senator Gabriel Suswam, expressed concern that SEC was projecting total revenue of N8.3billion in 2021 whereas its expenditure was N14.4billion.
Suswam, a former Governor of Benue asserted: “Your expenditure is N14.4billion which means you have a deficit of N6.1billion.
“Now there are lots of young men who are on the street who are qualified and ready to work.
“The salary of just one person from the top heavy management staff that you have can pay five young people who have the qualification and capacity to do the job.
“When you do that instead of generating N8billion and incurring deficit of N6.1billion, it is as good as your organisation does not exist.”
Responding, Yuguda pointed out that reducing the top heavy workforce in SEC would mean that the severance package of those to be laid off has to be paid.
Meanwhile, the Senate joint panel has directed the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, to probe financial transactions of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.