Row over federal workers April salaries

The issue of the payment of the April salaries of federal civil servants remains hotly debated as there are claims and counterclaims that the Federal Government may have borrowed N473 billion to pay workers salaries this year.

A statement from the federal ministry of finance yesterday said “staff salaries at the Federal level are up to date; workers have received their April salaries.”

The statement signed on behalf of the ministry by Paul Nwabuikwu Special Adviser to the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance denied allegations by some state governors that federal civil servants are being owed salaries, describing such allegations as spurious.

Nwabuikwu said in the statement that: “regarding difficulties in salary payment, certain governors are trying to blame the Federal Government for their predicament. This is wrong.”

While acknowledging 50 per cent drop in revenues, he said state governors “had been told through the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) to prioritise salaries but chose not to do so, hence the backlog that some states are experiencing.”

Speaking with Ripples, one of the state commissioners of finance confirmed that the continued drop in the monthly allocations from FAAC was affecting federal, states and local governments’ abilities to meet their financial obligations, including offsetting staff monthly salaries.

The commissioner who asked not to be named because of the sensitive nature of the issue confided in Ripples that the drop in revenue to the Federation Account has been a source of heated debate at the monthly FAAC meetings with the states urging the federal government to come clean on the state of the economy or device an acceptable means of boosting revenue to ensure that basic financial obligations are met.

Investigations by Ripples further revealed that majority of the quasi-governmental agencies and parastatals, were yet to receive their April salaries.

Ripples can authoritatively report that members of staff of Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB), National Environmental Standard and Regulation Enforcement Agency (NESREA), the Code of Conduct Bureau, among others, have not been paid their April salaries.

Checks by Ripples revealed that some staff of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and the federal ministry of Defence had received their April salaries thus far.

– Ali Smart

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