Federal civil servants in about 90 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are yet to receive their January salaries.
The affected MDAs include the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHoCSF), the Ministry of Information and National Orientation, the Ministry of Education, the National Population Commission, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), and the Voice of Nigeria.
In separate interviews with the Daily Trust and Premium Times, the workers lamented that their December 2023 salary delay experience should not have been repeated.
“As I am talking to you, myself and three of my colleagues have not been paid. The situation is not fair, not with the current situation of the daily increment of prices of food items and other things in the country,” one of the workers said.
Others alleged that the delay in paying their salaries indicated that the government was insensitive to the sufferings of the masses.
The December salary payment delay was attributed to technical issues related to uploading and harmonising the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
The delay in the payment of January salaries was blamed on a technical glitch in the Government Integrated Financial Management System (GIFMIS) platform by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF).
GIFMIS is an IT-based system for budget management and accounting by the federal government to improve public expenditure management processes and enhance greater accountability and transparency across ministries and agencies.
A January 31 memo titled ‘Delay in the Payment of January 2024 Salary’ was sent by the National Mathematics Centre, Abuja’s bursary department to all its staff. The acting bursar, Pius Ukwah, signed it. The memo said, “We wish to inform you that January 2024 salaries will be delayed beyond normal.
“As of today, the OAGF is still working on finalising the 2024 appropriation on the GIFMIS platform, and as a result, the personnel warrant for January is yet to be released.”
The memo, which copied the Director/CE, the Registrar, and pasted it on all notice boards, stated, “The same situation applies to all MDAs and not just the centre. We regret the inconvenience caused by this delay.”
In Ekiti State, some of the workers who spoke with Premium Times included staff of the Federal University, Oye Ekiti (FUOYE), the Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti, the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), the National Orientation Agency (NOA), and the Federal Ministry of Information, among others.
An official of FUOYE, Wole Balogun, said with the hardship being faced by the people, it was inconceivable that salaries could be delayed longer than necessary.
Balogun blamed the delay on an unnecessary bureaucratic bottleneck associated with the payment platforms and urged the federal government to expedite action on the payment “because the situation is becoming unbearable.”
A staffer of the Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti, Folashade Daramola, also lamented the delay. She noted that many staff members have loan obligations that they should have paid as when due, which have remained pending.
Also, Owoeye Ilesanmi, a staffer at the National Orientation Agency (NOA), said that in addition to the delay in paying January’s salary, the federal government has reneged on the payment of the wage award.
In Katsina State, many federal workers who spoke also said they had not received their salary or palliative support from the government.
Some affected workers told Premium Time that the delay affected their work schedule. They now find it difficult to go to work, especially those living in areas far from their offices.
“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 (surname withheld), who is an engineer with the department of Physical Planning and Works at the Federal University, Dutsin Ma, said.
Another non-academic worker of the Federal Polytechnic, Daura, who asked not to be named for fear of victimisation, said the delay in salary payment affected her activities, especially because she travelled daily from Katsina to Daura.
Jude Abugu, an official of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) in Edo State, described salary delays as common in recent months.
A memo from the Accountant-General’s Office said work was ongoing towards finalising the 2024 budget on the GIFMIS platform.
When contacted last night, the Director of Press and Public Relations at the OAGF, Bawa Mokwa, told the Daily Trust that about 90 offices across the MDAs were affected, including some universities and polytechnics.
However, he said many workers started receiving their salaries on Thursday, while others did so on Friday and at the weekend.
“The issue was attributed to the issue of uploading the 2024 budget and making it current because the salary was paid from the 2024 budget instead of the tradition where they overlapped the budget,” he explained.
“All has been finalized on Friday. They are supposed to have started getting it since yesterday (Saturday). If they don’t get it, maybe it is from the banks; from tomorrow (Monday) morning, definitely they will get it”.
A top official in the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, who insisted on not being named, said the delay in salary payment was not a punishment for workers.
He confirmed receiving his salary, but said he was aware that some of his “superior officers and some junior workers are yet to receive theirs.”
