FG resolves January salary delay, commends workers for patience

The federal government has said all affected federal workers in about 90 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) have received their January salaries.

Top officials at the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHoCSF) and selected MDAs told Daily Trust that they have interacted with colleagues and their subordinates, who all confirmed that they received their salaries.

They pleaded not to be named since they were not formally authorised to speak on the matter.

One of them told our correspondent that she received her salary Sunday night and that as at 11.00am yesterday (Monday), she did not hear of anyone that had not received their salaries credited to their individual accounts at the various banks.

However, the Director of Press and Public Relations at the OAGF, Bawa Mokwa, told Daily Trust that the office monitored the development and can confirm that all affected MDAs and workers had received their salaries.

He expressed optimism that such delay would not occur in the future.

He had on Sunday night told Daily Trust that about 90 offices across the MDAs were affected, including some universities and polytechnics.

Daily Trust had reported that the affected MDAs include the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHoCSF), the Ministry of Information and National Orientation, the Ministry of Education, the National Population Commission, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the Voice of Nigeria (VON), among others.

The workers had lamented that their December 2023 salary delay experience ought not to have been repeated.

Others alleged that the delay in the payment of their salaries was an indication that the government was insensitive to the sufferings of the masses.

The delay in the December salary payment had been attributed to technical issues relating to upload and harmonisation of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

While that of January salaries delay was blamed on the technical glitch on the Government Integrated Financial Management System (GIFMIS) platform by the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF).

GIFMIS is an IT-based system for budget management and accounting put in place by the federal government to improve public expenditure management processes and enhance greater accountability and transparency across ministries and agencies.

A memo from the accountant general’s office said work was ongoing towards finalising the 2024 budget on the GIFMIS platform.

“The issue was attributed to the issue of uploading the 2024 budget and making it current because the salary was paid from the 2024 budget instead of the tradition where they overlap the budget. 

“All was finalised on Friday. They are supposed to have started yesterday (Saturday). If they don’t get it, maybe it is from the banks; from tomorrow (Monday) morning, definitely they will get it,” Mokwa explained.