Civil servants employed by the Federal Government are facing a subdued Christmas celebration in 2024, largely due to the delay in receiving their December 2024 salaries.
Reports indicated that this delay follows a similar issue in November, where salaries were not paid until the second week of December.
Findings revealed that the situation has left many workers struggling financially, with some resorting to borrowing to make ends meet.
The delay, according to sources within the civil service, is linked to challenges at the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation. Others attribute it to the migration to a new payment system.
Speaking on the issue, civil servants expressed their frustration over the impact of the delayed payments on their holiday plans.
One federal worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, shared their predicament, noting, “To be very honest, I am not traveling for the holidays this year because I don’t have the money. Our November salaries came very late, and by the time we were paid, a lot of us were already in debt. We felt things would be different this December but the reverse is the case.”
Another worker echoed this sentiment, “There is nothing shocking about this new development because our November salaries came late. Some of us prepared ahead, even though it is not enough. The cost of food items have gone up, clothes for my children and all. Payment of the December salaries at the moment will really go a long way.”
An Assistant Director in an MDA outside Abuja added, “This delay in salary payment is getting too much. It is Christmas, and yet some of us can’t even buy meat talk less getting chicken for our family members. The government needs to consider our welfare.”
The Federal Government has, however, provided an explanation for the delayed payments.
Speaking to The PUNCH, the Director of Press and Public Relations at the Office of the Accountant-General, Mr. Bawa Mokwa, attributed the delays to shortfalls in allocations to certain ministries and agencies.
He confirmed that payments began on Monday and that efforts had been made to address the discrepancies.
“They have started paying since yesterday,” Mokwa confirmed.
Addressing the delays from November, Mokwa explained, “Last month, you will observe that some people didn’t get their salaries on time. Some ministries were having shortfalls. Yesterday, they paid all, and even the ones that had shortfall, they ensured that they were augmented and paid. So, it now depends on the banks.”
He linked the shortfalls to the implementation of the new minimum wage, which altered salary allocations for some ministries.
“When they started paying the new minimum wage, the money assigned for salaries to these ministries was affected by the minimum wage. So, that led to shortfall for the ministries. That is what the government has addressed and augmented for all ministries to ensure that the salary was paid yesterday,” he explained.
The Accountant-General of the Federation, Dr. Oluwatoyin Madein, also confirmed during a recent event that salaries had been paid.
Mokwa added that the time it takes for payments to reflect in accounts would depend on the respective banks. “It varies from bank to bank on how it will drop, but they have been paid,” he noted.
The delayed salaries come amidst ongoing adjustments to the national minimum wage.
In July 2024, President Bola Tinubu approved an increase from N30,000 to N70,000.
However, the National Assembly reduced allocations for wage-related payments in the approved 2024 budget by 45%, from the proposed N1tn to N550bn.
To address the shortfalls, the Federal Government allocated N845.28bn for minimum wage adjustments in the proposed 2025 budget.
Personnel costs, projected to increase by at least 60%, are expected to rise from N4.1tn in 2024 to N6.56tn in 2025, driven by the implementation of the new minimum wage.
According to the 2025 budget, the government plans to spend N8.52tn on personnel and pensions, marking a 59.16% increase from the previous year. Meanwhile, debt servicing costs are set to rise to N16.33tn, exceeding the budget for salaries and pensions.
With over half of the N46.02tn 2025 budget allocated to personnel, pensions, and debt servicing, financial pressures on both the government and its workers are evident.
Civil servants continue to hope for timely resolutions to ensure smoother salary disbursements in the coming months.
