Federal, states, council workers groan under unpaid November salaries

By Alifa Daniel, (Abuja Bureau Chief) ngrguardiannews

JUST nine days to Christmas, there are doubts whether the nation’s 250,000 federal workers and thousands more in states and local councils’ payroll will be part of the celebrations.
Reason: Most of them are still waiting for their November salary and for some states and local councils, a backlog of months of unpaid salaries.


While top governmental officials refused to comment on the matter when asked at the weekend if federal workers will get their December pay before Christmas, the workers’ leaders told The Guardian that based on their experience from the last Eid el Kabir festival in September, they did not have much hope it would be different this Christmas.

Spokesman for the workers and head of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Abuja, Mr. Amaechi Lawrence Uchechukwu, said he was not sure workers will be paid before Christmas.

His words: “It is not a good one and we are not happy that the salary may not come before Christmas, going by what we have heard. But we are already telling our members to be prepared to use their November salary for Christmas.

“The experience during the last Eid el Kabir is still fresh in our minds. They did not get their September salary before the festival and had to wait till the first week of October to be paid. They were not happy and we saw their reaction, but we are watching to see what will happen.”

The situation is same for workers at the state and local council levels as many of them have not been paid for months.

Workers in the Ministry of Education are worst hit as they have not received their October and November salaries.

They demonstrated in October to protest government’s inability to pay them.