Civil Servants Stranded As FG Struggles To Pay Salaries

Some civil servants in over 12 ministries, departments and agencies of the federal government have been left stranded over the nonpayment of their October monthly salaries amidst nationwide economic hardship that has left more Nigerians further impoverished.

The civil servants who spoke with this reporter in confidence yesterday expressed frustration over the delayed payment of their salaries as some of them say they have resorted to borrowing to feed and transport to work places.

A circular has been circulated by the federal government which suggests that the affected MDAs are cash-strapped due to the implementation of the N70,000 minimum wage law that was passed this year.

While over 12 MDAs are yet to get their salaries, this reporter gathered that others, including judiciary workers were paid on Monday, November 4th with less 25 percent. The government attributed the reduction of 25 percent to wage award deductions that were done earlier in the year.

Director of information in the Office of the Accountant-general of the Federation Bawa Mokwa said the problem arose because of the implementation of the new minimum wage scale that was not captured in the 2024 national budget, a situation he said has affected personnel cost of the over 12 agencies.

However, Mokwa said the office of the accountant-general is already working on a directive from the federal government to source for funds from anywhere to pay the outstanding salaries and that of 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.”

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.

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.