FG commits to paying remaining arrears of N35,000 wage award

The Federal Government says it is committed to clearing the remaining three months’ arrears of N35,000 to civil servants without further delay.

Mr Bawa Mokwa, Director, Press and Public Relations, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF), said this in a statement on Friday in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Federal Government started paying the second tranche of the outstanding N35,000 wage award arrears on Thursday.

The Federal Government had earlier paid one month out of the initial five months of outstanding arrears.

Mokwa said that with the payment of the second tranche, there remained three tranches to exhaust the wage award arrears.

“Contrary to insinuations in some quarters, the Federal Government has not reneged on payment of the wage award arrears.

“The Federal Government will continue to pay the wage award in instalments of N35,000 per month until the outstanding arrears are exhausted,” he said.

NAN reports that some civil servants in Abuja had earlier complained about the unexplained delay in the payment of the wage award.

Dr Uche Anune, a civil servant, said that the government should not wait until workers feel agitated or start complaining before they do something.

“I am seeing a pattern that whenever there is anything at stake, the government tends to be relaxed about it until some people start agitating or engaging in some form of protest before they act.

“That should not be the case,” he said.

Mr Joseph Edeh urged the government to clear the outstanding four months’ arrears of the wage award rather than paying monthly.

Edeh said the delay had cast doubts on the sincerity of the Federal Government.

“On the issue of this N35,000 wage award, honestly, as a civil servant and as a Nigerian, I have lost faith.

“They told us that we had an outstanding of five months; after paying one month, they stopped. Why are they treating us like this? Nobody is happy about this.

“What they should do is to clear the areas, pay the remaining four months at once and forget about it,” he said.

Miss Franca Ofili urged the Federal Government to fulfil its promise and save civil servants the burden of expectation.

“The government should try and clear the arrears because that 35,000 can go a long way to solve a lot of their financial problems.

“We need the money; they should clear the outstanding four months’ arrears at once,” she said. (NAN

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