Federal employees across the country have expressed frustration over the delayed payment of their January salaries.
The workers, across various federal parastatals, are currently criticizing the Federal Government’s lax attitude in handling of the situation amidst the nation’s economic challenges.
A memo from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, had previously informed employees about the expected delay.
The document, as revealed by Premium Times, explained that the Accountant General’s office was working on finalising the 2024 Appropriation on the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) platform, and as a result the Personnel Warrant for the month of January 2024 was yet to be released.
Having affected Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) nationwide, staff were urged to remain patient while the issues are resolved.
The impact of the delay has been profound in states like Ekiti, where staff from institutions like the Federal University, Oye Ekiti (FUOYE) and Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti, have voiced their concerns.
Wole Balogun, an official at FUOYE, who decried the added hardship, criticized the bureaucratic bottlenecks causing the payment delays.
He urged the Federal Government to expedite action on the payment, “because the situation is becoming unbearable.”
Folashade Daramola from the Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti, highlighted the difficulties in fulfilling loan obligations and meeting daily transportation and feeding needs.
“We are finding it difficult to even go to work; after all, we depend on our salary to be able to transport ourselves, not to talk of feeding our families. We are tired of excuses, let them pay our salary,” Daramola said
Owoeye Ilesanmi from the National Orientation Agency (NOA) lamented the government’s failure to fully disburse the wage award promised to Federal workers as compensation for the subsidy removal on petrol.
“We have only received a wage award of two months, while three months is outstanding. The whole thing boils down to insensitivity on the part of the government. How do we survive without our salary and the wage award? I think the government should show empathy by paying us all the money they owe us,” he said
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Another federal civil servant in Ibadan, Oyo State, Idris Badiru, while lamenting the delay in payment of January salary, described the situation as pathetic.
“January the 39th! Alagbase ti si oko gba bayi,” he wrote in Yoruba via Facebook, basically the lamentation of an unpaid labourer.
“I work in a department that requires me to go to the office every day, but I’ve finished my savings and I’m finding it difficult to travel to Dutsin Ma to undertake my responsibility,” Faruk, who is an engineer with the Department of Physical Planning and Works at the Federal University, Dutsin Ma, said.
“Things are hard, but we have no option than to oblige,” he added.
Bala travels to and from Dutsin Ma from Katsina metropolis, a 68-Kilometre journey, every working day.
“On these travels, I can spend a whole month’s salary not to talk of the foodstuffs and other basic necessities,” he added.
Another anonymous non-academic worker of the Federal Polytechnic, Daura, said the delay in salary payment is affecting her activities, especially because she travels daily from Katsina to Daura.
“The polytechnic is new so there are no houses for staff, most of us travel to the school on a daily basis, which compounds our situation.
“Though, we’ve been notified by the management of the salary delay, I think it’s unfair for the government, especially because January is usually a long month,” the official, who works in the Students’ Affairs department said.
A National Population Commission staff in Katsina State said he has since stopped going to the office “because several of my colleagues are no longer going too.”
Jude Abugu, an official of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) in Edo State, described the delay in payment of salaries as commonplace in recent months.
According to him, there has been frequent delays in payment of salaries of federal civil servants since the new administration came onboard.
“I think that was the earliest that they have paid us a salary. There are times when our salaries will come in during the first or second week of the next month,” he said.
