Presidency issues 7-day deadline on workers’ pay

Labour leaders and workers are excited over a presidential directive that all arrears of salaries and allowances must be paid.

The Presidency on Monday directed Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to compile the names of all public service employees who are being owed arrears of salaries and allowances within seven days so that they can be paid without further delay.

The September 14 circular came from the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF). It immediately sent members of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) jumping for joy.

The names of those being owed are to be compiled within seven days for them to be paid “immediately”.

ASCSN Secretary-General Comrade Alade Bashir Lawal, who broke the news in a statement released in Abuja yesterday, praised President Muhammadu Buhari for bringing hope to thousands of public service employees who are being owed arrears of salaries and allowances for years.

The Presidency identified the outstanding benefits as: salary arrears, promotion arrears, 1st 28 days allowance on transfer from post, repatriation allowance, burial expenses, death benefits and mandatory training of OHCSF in 2010.

The Presidency directed the MDAs to ensure that each unpaid entitlement is accurate, verifiable, with the name, designation, status (serving or retired) and amount due to each officer.
“The correct information should reach the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation on or before Monday September 21, 2015,” the circular stressed.

Lawal recalled that in letters written to the President since his election and assumption of office, the union reminded him of the outstanding salaries and allowances and stressed the need for the government to pay up to boost the morale not only of the affected officers but also that of other teeming public service employees.

He expressed confidence that as soon as the lists are submitted to the Presidency, the lingering arrears of salaries and allowances would be paid “so as to put the ugly situation behind and move forward”.

The union warned of dire consequences, which may include trade union actions, if the MDAs played politics with the Presidential directive.