ABUJA, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- The Federal Government has reaffirmed its commitment to clearing the remaining three months arrears of the N35,000 wage award to civil servants without further delay.
In a statement on Friday in Abuja, Director of Press and Public Relations at the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Bawa Mokwa, said the second tranche of the outstanding arrears commenced on Thursday.
The government had earlier settled one month out of the initial five months of arrears.
With the latest payment, three tranches remain.
“Contrary to insinuations in some quarters, the Federal Government has not reneged on payment of the wage award arrears. The Federal Government will continue to pay the wage award in instalments of N35,000 per month until the outstanding arrears are exhausted,” Mokwa said.
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Some civil servants in Abuja, however, expressed dissatisfaction over the delay. Dr Uche Anune said, “I am seeing a pattern that whenever there is anything at stake, the government tends to be relaxed about it until some people start agitating or engaging in some form of protest before they act. That should not be the case.”
Mr Joseph Edeh argued that the arrears should be cleared in one payment rather than in monthly instalments. “On the issue of this N35,000 wage award, honestly, as a civil servant and as a Nigerian, I have lost faith.
They told us that we had an outstanding of five months; after paying one month, they stopped. Why are they treating us like this? Nobody is happy about this. What they should do is to clear the arrears, pay the remaining four months at once and forget about it,” he said.
Miss Franca Ofili also urged the government to fulfil its promise. “The government should try and clear the arrears because that 35,000 can go a long way to solve a lot of their financial problems. We need the money; they should clear the outstanding four months’ arrears at once,” she said.
(NAN)
