Civil servants stranded as October salaries delayed amid economic hardship

In a troubling development, civil servants from over 12 federal ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) are facing significant financial distress due to the nonpayment of their October salaries.

This delay comes at a time when economic hardships are already exacerbating poverty levels across Nigeria, leaving many workers struggling to meet their basic needs.

Affected employees, speaking confidentially, expressed their frustration with the situation, revealing that they have been forced to borrow money just to afford food and transportation to their workplaces.

The federal government has circulated a circular indicating that the cash-strapped status of these MDAs is largely a consequence of the implementation of the newly approved N70,000 minimum wage law passed earlier this year.

While many civil servants remain unpaid, reports indicate that some groups, including judiciary workers, received partial payments of less than 25% on November 4.

The government attributed this reduction to wage award deductions made earlier in the year, further complicating the financial struggles of workers.

Bawa Mokwa, Director of Information in the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, explained that the root of the problem lies in the new minimum wage scale not being included in the 2024 national budget, which has negatively impacted personnel costs across the affected agencies.

However, Mokwa assured that the Office of the Accountant-General is actively addressing the issue, working under directives from the federal government to secure funds from various sources to settle the outstanding salaries and ensure payments for the remaining months of the year.

“The Office of the Accountant General, from last Friday, is working on the augmentation of the salary,” Mokwa said while assuring that all the affected persons will get their salaries. “They are working on it. The accountant general’s office is only trying to raise money for the only two months remaining in this year. They (OAGF) will ensure that they take care of it.”

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He explained the budget was exhausted by implementation of the new minimum wage, adding that as the agency responsible, the OAGF is working to get the balance for payment of the civil servants.

“Without a directive they can’t swing into action. But they are in action now working seriously to raise the money.” He failed to specify when the funds would be ready for disbursement to the now hungry and angry government workers.

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Asked when the money would come, he simply said “It’s something we are working on already. We will soon solve it. It can be tomorrow, it can be next tomorrow because they are seriously on it.

Apart from that, some government workers are yet to get salaries that were paid through end of October to date due to electronic transfer systems malfunction in some commercial banks, prompting some of the affected persons to demand for change of host banks.

In a statement on yesterday, the OAGF clarified that no directive has been issued to workers to change the financial institutions registered on the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) platform as their salary accounts. The office said it will not issue any directive that will mislead, misguide or cause unnecessary panic to workers.

The OAGF explained that whenever there is an application for change of salary account, such is always a personal decision of the worker concerned, adding that the IPPIS Office has not issued any general directive to this effect as there was no reason to do so.

The OAGF tasked financial institutions to implement necessary strategies to boost customers’ confidence and guarantee efficient fulfilment of their obligations to persons whose salaries are domiciled in such financial institutions and Nigerians in general.

The OAGF noted that there are Agencies that are statutorily mandated to determine the health as well as viability of financial institutions and expressed optimism that those Agencies are up to their tasks.

The office advised workers that may have genuine reasons to change their salary accounts on the IPPIS platform to follow the official procedures.

(Leadership)