“There is no excuse": Lamentation as Federal Workers Observe Christmas Without December Salaries
- The federal government failed to pay the December salaries to civil servants before the Christmas celebration
- Workers have lamented that the lack of money prevented them from celebrating the season in merriment
- A university lecturer said for over six months they rarely get their salaries before the end of the month.
Legit.ng journalist Adekunle Dada has over 5 years of experience covering metro and government policy
FCT, Abuja - The Christmas celebration in most homes of federal civil servants fell short of the usual merriment, heavy cooking, and visitations due to the delay in payment of their December 2023 salaries.
As reported by Daily Trust, only workers in revenue-generating agencies like NNPC, NPA, NIMASA, NCC, CBN, and FIRS, among many others got their salaries for December.
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The workers lamented that the delay in salary affected their Christmas celebration and might have a negative impact even in January when schools would have resumed.
A lecturer at the University of Abuja said:
“There is no excuse whatsoever, to say the truth. They removed the subsidy, they said they have been saving monies since June. This is over six months but we rarely get our salaries before the end of the month.
“I got my November salary in the second week of December. Now that it is the end of the year and it is the Christmas season, we thought they would pay us around the 20th or 22nd. Sadly, they did not”
Another worker said he did not experience a delay in December salaries under the previous administration.
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“Despite the general misgivings about previous administrations, I cannot remember any time our December salaries were delayed.”
“How can you be happy when you cannot make your family happy at this auspicious occasion?” another university lecturer asked.
The spokesperson for the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Mallam Bawa Mokwa confirmed the inability of the federal government to pay the December salaries before Christmas.
Mokwa said workers would soon receive their salaries as the process was ongoing.
However, a top government official disclosed that the delay was due to a technical glitch that was being addressed.
He added that workers would be receiving their salaries before the end of Monday, December 25.
5,000 civil servants might not get paid before Christmas
Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that the National President of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, Tommy Okon, revealed that around 5,000 federal civil servants with discrepancies in their dates of first appointment and dates of birth may face a delay in receiving their December salaries.
Okon stated that the union is collaborating with the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and has submitted the names of affected workers to their Directors of Human Resources for confirmation.
Nigerian workers' salary slashed by 19% as inflation rate rises
The National Bureau of Statistics(NBS) revealed that Nigeria’s annual inflation rate rose for the seventh straight month, nearing an 18-year high of 24.08% in July 2023.
The report also stated that inflation rose to 24.08% in July 2023 from 22.79% the previous month. This is as the food inflation rate quickened to 26.98% in July from 25.25% last month.
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Source: Legit.ng
