-As NCC concludes process for subsidy disbursements to InfraCos
Nigeria begins harmonization of salary disparity among civil servants – The Federal Government has mandated the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) to begin implementation of a project to harmonies salary disparity among Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
Speaking while defending the Commission’s budget before the National Assembly, Executive Chairman, NSIWC, Dr. Richard Onwuka Egbule, said to achieve an enduring harmonisation, efforts are being made to have a comprehensive review of grading system.
Egbule explained that the Commission achieved a 74 per cent implementation of the 2018 budget, which he hoped will be surpassed in 2019.
He said the greatest problem bedevilling the Commission was the issue of office accommodation after 25 years of its existence.
The Chairman said it was due to the lack of office space that the Commission could not recruit in the last 10 years, adding that the need for more office space has become more pressing.
He noted that NSIWC operates from six different locations which, according to him, would not enhance the building of a distinct organisational culture, adding that necessary contacts had been made to ameliorate the situation, including a courtesy visit to the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
In his remarks, the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs, Alhaji Husseini Kangiwa, called on the Commission to make the issue of office space a priority and build it into its budget and bring in the National Assembly to back it up.
He noted that an important agency like NSIWC that is at the heart of workers’ welfare should have a befitting building of its own.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has concluded process leading to the disbursement of subsidies to the six licensed Infrastructure Companies (InfraCos) as part of its plans to boost broadband penetration and make it pervasive nationwide.
This was part of the digital transformation agenda, which NCC has put in place for actualisation. The subsidy will augment the InfraCos’ capital expenditure (CAPEX).
Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, dropped the hint at the weekend when he received a delegation from the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
The USTDA team, led by its Acting Country Director, Mr. Thomas Hardy, was received at the instance of the NCC Board members and senior management of the Commission.