Labour Fumes as FG Stops N35,000 Award Payment

The organised Labour and the Federal Government are on a collision course over the government’s failure to sustain the payment of N35,000 wage award to workers.

Workers in the Federal Civil Service, in separate interviews , noted that the Federal Government only paid N35,000 wage award for September.

Following the removal of the fuel subsidy by President Bola Tinubu on his assumption of office, the Federal Government agreed to pay N35,000 to each of its workers to reduce the hardship caused by the subsidy removal.

The government, in a memo signed by the Chairman, National Salaries Wages and Income Commission, Ekpo Nta, stated that the payment of the wage award would begin to take effect from September 1, 2023.

However, findings indicated that the government only paid the wage award for September.

A senior civil servant in one of the core ministries, departments and agencies said, “The wage award was only paid once and since then, they have not received another.

He also noted that there has been no official communication from the government as regards the matter.

Another civil servant, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said, the workers have not received anything else other than the initial wage award which was paid.

He lamented that The government cannot continue to let the citizens suffer as salaries are not enough to take home at this point.

Also speaking, a civil servant in one of the Federal Government-owned schools in Abuja noted that the workers were only paid the wage award for one month.

He explained that though the peculiar allowance introduced by the former administration is still being paid alongside salaries, they have not received any such thing as a wage award. He also lamented that the government needs to stop playing games with worker’s  emotions.”

The Head of information at the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Benson Upah, in an interview said, “This betrays the government’s dishonorable intentions and is completely unacceptable.”

When asked if the NLC would take action, he said, “Certainly, the congress will do something about this but what it will do will be dependent on the appropriate organs of the congress. On communication with the government, sure, we will. It usually precedes our actions.”

But the spokesperson for the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Bawa Mokwa, allayed fears of civil servants. Mokwa noted that plans were ongoing to ensure that civil servants receive their wage awards.

He explained that the process is ongoing and all workers will be paid as the  process to pay the wage awards has commenced.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government has budgeted  N1tn  for minimum wage adjustments, promotion arrears and severance benefits for civil servants, an analysis of the 2024 appropriation budget released by the Budget Office of the Federation has revealed