Rebecca Ayuba, Abuja
Responding to the Joint Agitation of the three Unions; the Association of Senior Civil Servant of Nigeria (ASCSN), the Nigerian Civil Service Union (NCSU), and the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN), to pay a salary structure that was not approved by the appropriate authorities, “is manifestly illegal and cannot be acceded to by any responsible institution,” Ayo-Yusuf to the Labour Union causing unrest in the Commission.
This displeasure was made in a press statement that was made available to journalists on Thursday.
According to the Hon. Chief Commissioner, who also serves as the Deputy Secretary General of the Africa Ombudsman and Mediators Association, AOMA, Abimbola Ayo – Yusuf said the Federal Ministry of Labor and Employment and the National Assembly are attempting to settle a disagreement about the PCC’s payment scale. He also mentioned that in order to switch from the Consolidated Public Service Salary Structure to the Consolidated Legislative Salary Structure, the Commission had applied for approval. The approval, he said, was granted with the requirement that the Commission should liaise with the National Salaries, Incomes, and Wages Commission for final approval.
“I tried everything within my power to relentlessly pursue the approval, which was eventually approved by the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission with effect from 1st October, 2022. As soon as the salary adjustment was approved, the Executives of the three Labour Unions namely, the Association of Senior Civil Servant of Nigeria (ASCSN), Nigerian Civil Service Union (NCSU) and the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria(PASAN) in the Commission started relentless agitation for its implementation in spite of the fact that no budgetary approval was given to implement same in the 2022 and 2023 Appropriation Acts”. Abimbola.
It is reported that PCC’s Management ably led by the Honourable Chief Commissioner quickly convened a meeting with the Executives of the three Unions on 23rd January, 2024 where the Management made an offer based on the approved salary structure by the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission (NSIWC) as follows: a.) Level 1 – 6: (100% Consolidated Salary and 100% Peculiar Salary). b.) Level 7 – 17: (90% Consolidated Salary and 100% Peculiar Salary.
He added that the Commission’s and stakeholders’ efforts were not enough to fully implement the approved salary structure in the approved budget for 2024. This resulted in an altercation between the union members and the Commission’s Management Staff.
On the said matter, the National Assembly convened a meeting with the Management Staff of the Commission and the Union members in response to the disturbance and act of violence perpetrated. It was emphasized that sufficient funding was required, and actions were taken to make it better.
National Assembly Service Commission’s employees and the Public Complaints Commission’s employees cannot receive their salaries from the same structure, those were the major issues discussed..
Meanwhile, Abimbola spoke of his achievements since assumption of office, “that due to the strategies put in place since my assumption of Office Two and Half years ago, the Commission, under my leadership was able to receive not less than 791,026 complaints from members of the public aside cases initiated by the Commission, out of which 499,500 Complaints have been successfully resolved and 291,526 is pending.
Meanwhile Abimbola detailed his achievements to mentioning few for convinience, as Establishment of the Enforcement Unit in collaboration with the Nigeria Police Force and the Judiciary in order to effectively check some recalcitrant respondents. “Under my leadership, about 80 case files have been handled by the Unit out of which 76 have been successfully resolved through prosecution. However, the Unit has also prosecuted not less 70 recalcitrant Respondents and the sum of 186 million naira recovered for various Complainants
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