The Executive Chairman, National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, Richard 0nwuka Egbule, says no matter how much workers are paid, it will never be enough to meet their needs if they do not plan properly.
Egbule said this at his 70th birthday celebration organised by the Association of Senior Civil Servants and the Nigerian Civil Service Union of the Commission.
The Chairman advised workers to ensure that they effectively plan their expenditures before spending from their salaries.
“The way you plan is the biggest determinant of how your salary works for you.
“Man is an economic being. The more he gets or the more he expects to get, the more he spends.
“Government can continue to increase salary, but as long as you don’t plan properly, you are not likely to benefit from it,” he said.
Egbule said that having spent most of his Public Service life at the commission and ten years of it at the helm of affairs, he had implemented polices that had changed salary administration in the country for better.
“Today we have the consolidated salary schemes which happened under my watch.
“Also, the military, Para Military, the Police and the entire intelligence community have better salary structure as a result of the contribution of this commission.
“I also introduced the salary inspection scheme, which has greatly reduced the propensity of many agencies to introduce pay packages that are not authorised or approved by government.
“This inspection has saved the government a lot of money,” he said
Egbule also cautioned civil servants on unnecessary borrowings. He said that borrowing eats deeply into their earnings thereby making it less sufficient to meet their financial needs.
On his part, the Secretary to the Commission, David Nkikyaa, commended the giant strides of the Chairman towards repositioning of the Commission and urged staff and other civil servants to emulate his leadership style.
Meanwhile, the Chairman, Association of Senior Civil Servants, Salaries and Wages Commission, Mr Otunsanya Luqman who commended Egbule on the role he had played in shaping salary administration in the country called on government to do more in developing other sectors like the school system, hospitals and housing deficit, which he said accounts for the major expenses for workers.
He explained that if the right infrastructures were in place, workers would spend less and be able to save and invest more in their future.
