Top civil servants working at the State
House, Aso Rock, Abuja had a bleak
yuletide with members of their families,
as they spent Christmas and the New
Year without the payment of their
December salary.
One of the affected staff who spoke to
PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday said this
was the first time in several years that
any administration in the country would
fail to pay the staff working directly
under the President their salary before
Christmas and the New Year.
The staff, who pleaded that his identity
be protected for fear of being victimised
by the authorities, said in the past,
workers in the Villa were not only sure of
their salary, but also other goodies as
well, especially from the President.
Another source said the workers were
not surprised that they had to go without
their normal pay this time, as it was
widely speculated there was no money to
meet such obligations, with the
Presidency budget overspent.
The source also said that no one has
been able tell the workers when they
would be paid their salaries, as there has
not been any official communication to
explain why they have not been paid.
Another staff also informed our reporter
that the hopes of the workers were
raised on Christmas Eve when the
Accounts Department issued payment
slips for their December pay.
Those hopes were dashed when the
affected workers went to their banks to
discover that their various accounts were
not credited, while others waited in vain
for the alerts from their banks, a familiar
development usually after the receipt of
their pay slips.
“We thought that since we had a bad
Christmas we would at least celebrate
the New Year well, but again we were
disappointed,” said the obviously
distraught official.
The staff, who said he was not surprised
at the latest development, said having
worked all his life in the Presidency and
seen what usually happens during most
yuletide seasons, never has the villa been
so broke that there was no money to pay
December salaries to workers.
The situation also affected other
categories of workers in the civil service,
as the Association of Senior Civil
Servants of Nigeria, ASCSN, on Monday
threatened industrial action if their
December salaries and outstanding
emoluments since July 2013 were not
paid. The association alleged that
thousands of federal civil servants were
denied the joy of yuletide, as they were
yet to receive their December 2013
salaries.
The association said the inability of the
government to meet its obligation to the
workers at such a period had confirmed
fears that the managers of the public
sector economy were not only
insensitive, but also “grossly incompetent
and rabidly corrupt”.
The association’s secretary, Alade Lawal,
who signed the statement, demanded an
explanation from the Minister of Finance
and Coordinating Minister for the
Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on why
the federal government has not been able
to pay salaries to its workers in recent
times.
Claiming that the Nigerian workers were
the least paid in Sub-Saharan Africa, Mr.
Lawal said it was disheartening that
even with that the workers were no
longer getting their pay as and when due.
“We wish to emphasise that if federal
civil servants are not paid their December
2013 salary and arrears outstanding
since July 2013 immediately, the entire
Federal Civil Service will be shut down
shortly,“ Mr. Lawal said.
“We have never had a situation in this
country where the federal government
cannot pay the salary of civil servants
particularly during festive periods. This
development is very unfortunate and is
making Nigeria a laughing stock before
the international community,” he noted.
In her reaction, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala, said
through her Special Adviser on media,
Paul Nwabuikwu, that prompt payment of
salary has remained one of the top
priorities of government.
The Minister, who said the reason
government was unable to pay some
workers’ salaries was communicated to
all relevant agencies, restated the
commitment of her Ministry not to
compromise the prompt payment of
workers’ salary.
She denied that government owed the
workers any entitlements and said 98 per
cent of federal workers had received their
December salary.
“The salaries of a small proportion of
civil servants have been delayed because
their MDAs are yet to update their bank
accounts with the Office of the
Accountant General of the Federation,”
Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala’s spokesperson said.
“The accepted account number is the 10-
digit NUBAN number specified by the
Central Bank of Nigeria. There are also a
few other issues which are now being
resolved as quickly as possible.
“All unpaid salaries are intact so the
claim by those who issued the statement
that salary delay is a proof that the
country is broke, which parrots partisan
political claims, is ridiculous and
groundless.”
Do you want the source? click here

in UPTH...they were paid on the 31St of december.

This is seriuse front PAGE

Our Federal Govt has turn to Yahoo Yahoo ....local scam.....Monkey dey Work Baboon dey chop.......

The money was used to feed an Hippopotamus

All the money has been spent on the 40 lapdogs pay per post project defending the retardeen president! The balance was rightly used to feed the morbidly obese shepopotamus in Aso Rock plus deposit N 1.5 B for the 11 th Aircraft for the hepopotamus president to fly!