The federal civil servants are having a low-key Christmas celebration after their December 2024 salaries were delayed.
The majority of federal employees received their November 2024 salaries in the second week of December, and several civil service sources told reporters that the office of the Accountant General of the Federation was to blame, while other sources pointed out that the delay was caused by a switch to a new payment platform.
A public official, who spoke anonymously to avoid violating civil service regulations, discussed the delayed salaries, saying, “To be very honest, I am not travelling for the holidays this year because I don’t have the money.
“When we finally received our November salaries, many of us were already in debt since they arrived so late. We thought that this December would be different, but it’s the opposite.
“This new development is nothing shocking because our November salaries came late,” stated another civil servant, who also spoke on condition of anonymity. “Even though it is insufficient, some of us prepared ahead. Food products and clothing for my kids have become more expensive. It will be very beneficial to pay the December salary now.”
According to an assistant director at one of the MDAs outside of Abuja, “the salary payment delay is becoming intolerable.” Some of us are unable to purchase meat, much less chicken, for our family members this Christmas. The government must take our welfare into account.”
However, the Nigerian government has explained the recent delays in civil officials’ salary payments, citing inadequate funding for certain ministries and organisations as the cause.
Payments started on Monday, and steps had been taken to resolve the disparities, according to Mr Bawa Mokwa, Director of Press and Public Relations at the Office of the Accountant-General, who spoke to reporters on Tuesday.
According to Mokwa, “They have been paying since yesterday.”
“You will notice that some people didn’t receive their salaries on time last month,” he added, acknowledging the delays that occurred. “A few ministries were experiencing shortages. They paid everyone yesterday, and even those who had a deficit were made whole and compensated. As a result, the banks now determine it.”
Mokwa explained that the new minimum wage‘s implementation had impacted several ministries’ salary distributions, which was the core of the issue.
“The funds allocated for wages to these ministries were impacted by the minimum wage when they began paying the new minimum wage. As a result, the ministries had a shortage. He clarified, “The government has addressed that and added for all ministries to ensure that the salary was paid yesterday.”
During a previous event, Dr Oluwatoyin Madein, the Federation’s Accountant General, also attested to the fact that the salaries had been paid.
Mokwa did, however, add that each bank would have a different timeframe for when the money would appear in employees’ accounts.
“How it drops varies from bank to bank, but they have been paid,” he stated.
In July 2024, Nigerian workers’ minimum salary was raised from N30,000 to N70,000 by President Bola Tinubu.
In the approved 2024 budget, the National Assembly cut the amount for minimum wage and salary-related payments for Ministries, Departments, and Agencies by 45% earlier in January of this year.
For MDAS, President Tinubu first suggested allocating N1 trillion for Public Service Wage Adjustment (which included Minimum Wage Related Adjustments, Payment of Severance Benefits, and Arrears of Promotion and Salary Increases).
However, the budget that was passed by the National Assembly and signed by the president was far lower than the planned amount, coming in at N550 billion for the same fiscal item.
After a new minimum wage was approved, the Nigerian government announced that the new national minimum wage would be primarily funded by the N3 trillion recurring component of the N6.2 trillion supplemental budget that was presented to the National Assembly.
Following the recent hike in the minimum wage to N70,000, the Nigerian government set aside N845.28 billion in the planned 2025 budget to address minimum wage-related adjustments.
