The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, on today disclosed that the Nigerian government spends N165 billion on salaries and allowances per month.

Adeosun stated this during a joint meeting with the security chiefs of paramilitary agencies under the Ministry of Interior on continuous audit and moving from manual to automated payment system.

The Minister noted that the federal government’s system of payment is characterized by wastage and leakages that cannot be be continued.

She further said that audit meeting was aimed at bringing all the paramiliatry agencies under ministry of Interior into the automated payment system, as it concerns salaries and allowances

She said: “Both teams are working very hard on how to meet the deadline. This meeting is really on how to discuss the modalities and specifically, the number of allowances (non-credit allowances).

“We have to make sure that those allowances are paid directly to those concerned and the best way to do that is by automating the pay roll system, which is linked to BVN, so that every payment will be going to individuals specifically, rather than withdrawing them.

“If we are paying for risk allowances for either hazards or any other risk, it is very critical, such that the monies get to the real persons suffering the risk.

“What we want to do is to make sure, everybody is connected to the automated system and get all the support necessary. It is very easier for agencies to be paid salaries with minimised leakages, and people understand what they are getting, for good financial control and transparency.

“As you know, we spend N165bn every month on salaries and allowances and we have to check it and the first step to do that is to know, who are those we pay. With automated platform, we can trace these persons to make it more transparency.

“We started that process and as we speak, the biometric data of personnel in the security agencies have been captured to ensure that they are not captured at random.”

Mazi Emeka