The registrar of the Joint Admmission and Matriculation Board, JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede has advocated a total review and overhaul of wages and the compensation structure in the public service.
Oloyede who spoke at the 7th Conference of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers, GOCOP, in Abuja on Thursday said “unless we are pretenders, we all know that some things do not just add up in the compensation of public servants and most of the public office holders. For example, Prof. Oloyede said that the minimum wage, as a take-home pay, cannot take anyone home at this time in our economic history.
According to him, considering the ever-increasing price level and the national currency devaluation, both of which have led to a spiral inflationary level, wages at all levels have become inadequate to meet the provision of basic needs of life for so many.
Oloyede who was the chairman of the conference said that even at the highest level for top public servants and political office holders, the compensation structure is such that we all know that it is difficult for top level public officers and political appointees to rely on their pay to sustain their living conditions and the requirements or dictates of their offices.
“Due to low salaries and emoluments, some misguided public servants at all levels are encouraged to look for sources within government to meet the elevated financial demands expected of their offices and status. The effect of this is the sacrifice of transparency and accountability in the administration of most government offices and agencies.
“In fact, the situation is so bad that salaries and allowances of Ministers and heads of some agencies are lower than the salaries of middle level officers in a typical private enterprise. Curiously, there is also a wide gap in the compensation and salaries of some government departments and agencies compared with some others. The juicy agencies and government departments have become a hub and attraction for appointments of connected individuals and families of connected individuals.”
In another dimension, Oloyede, the former Vice Chancellor of University of Ilorin said there is a wide gap in the compensation structure between the public and private sectors in Nigeria. While private sector executives are well remunerated in line with their output and dictates of their offices, the same thing cannot be said for public officers.
“In fact, salaries of most chief executives of the publicly quoted companies and some government agencies in Nigeria are higher than the emolument of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Similarly, salaries of some Ministers are lower than those of the chief executives of some agencies and institutions under their supervision.
“These phenomenal, he said encourage corruption and lack of accountability. It gives room for malpractices, financial impropriety, and malfeasance. “When officers and executives are not well paid and they are entrusted with huge resources of the state, some may resort to helping themselves.
“There is a lot to do to rejuvenate the economy. One way is to pay a commensurate remuneration for a commensurate work. With good, adequate and competitive compensation structure in the public sector, the system can attract good hands. I believe that paying the right wages in the public sector is one way to improve productivity of workers.
“I am aware that sometime in the past, the Bureau for Public Sector Reforms toyed with an idea of adopting exchange programme at the directorate level between the public and the private sectors. The thinking was to help infuse new ideas into the implementation and running of government departments and agencies. It was proposed that government should make its compensation structure attractive to experienced private sector operatives to encourage them to key into the scheme.
“When commensurable remunerations are paid, productivity can be enhanced, and key performance indicators (KPIs) can be set to ensure service delivery. In addition, code of conduct and standard operating procedures can be put in place to address the leakages that fuel corruption, ineptitude, and inefficiency. When workers are well remunerated, it helps to call them to account and work for their pay.
“Furthermore, I propose the strengthening of governance in public corporations, publicly listed companies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). I believe that the leadership of these entities require greater scrutiny that would ensure that the interest of their stakeholders are served. I am aware that there is a strong code of corporate governance for licensed financial institutions, publicly listed enterprises and entities of public interest.
“The code of corporate governance, released into circulation by the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN) in 2018 together with the adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) have assisted in curbing the incidence of corruption in the affected entities, and it is helping to create value and wealth for the stakeholders especially innocent members of the public who subscribe to the shares of these entities in the marketplace.
“I recommend that the code of corporate governance be extended to all major actors in the Nigerian economy. In specific, government should come out, without further delay with code of corporate governance and make it mandatory for public sector institutions, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and small and medium enterprises that represent over 97% of businesses operating in Nigeria.
“When this is done, I believe there would be improvement in governance of government, non-governmental and private entities in Nigeria which would help to unlock their values for prosperity of Nigerians and sustainable development of the country.”
Oloyede said that it is important that our economists should not shut their eyes to the many alternatives to the template of Bretton Woods’s institutions. Not few persons believe that some austerity measures and curtailment of our high taste for foreign products are absolutely necessary in view of the current realities.
To realise our potentials as a nation and achieve huge socio-economic recovery and sustainability, Prof. Oloyede further said that we all have our part to play. But we cannot be doing the same thing over and over again and expect a different result. We need to change the way things are done. And we need to be bold.
“We are all here courtesy of GOCOP, an eminent media professional association. So it is necessary for me to remind all of us about the place of the media in development. A country with an effective and strong media stands a better chance of attaining sustainable development.
“So as we scramble to remake our country, government must take deliberate steps to partner the Nigerian media with a view to making them more credible and sustainable. If we are to attain the socio-economic and political progress we badly need, we cannot treat the media as adversaries and as entities whose health or ill-health shouldn’t concern us.
“The presence of the Presidency of Nigeria at this occasion convinces me that we are on the right path towards effective government-media partnership. On the other hand, the media should not deliberately undermine national security.
“I have just touched on three areas of our economic life that I feel strongly that we should address to achieve our dream of an economic renaissance and prosperity for all. There are many other areas that the keynote speaker and panelists at this event would touch,” he said.