Inexcusable non-payment of workers’ salaries

He dismissed claims that the expenditures by MDAs on sub-heads not related to salaries were responsible for unpaid salaries, which officials in the Ministry of Finance had promised would be rectified before Christmas. Reports indicate that civil servants in states such Osun, Ekiti, Oyo, Benue, Plateau and Abia, also went through similar experience. In fact, […]

He dismissed claims that the expenditures by MDAs on sub-heads not related to salaries were responsible for unpaid salaries, which officials in the Ministry of Finance had promised would be rectified before Christmas.
Reports indicate that civil servants in states such Osun, Ekiti, Oyo, Benue, Plateau and Abia, also went through similar experience. In fact, workers in these states were being owed salaries of between two and four months.  
In Oyo, the state’s Nigeria Labour Congress chairman, Basiru Ali, said the November and December salaries were still being awaited. The NLC Chairman in Abia State, Sylvanus Eye, said that while civil servants in the ministries had been paid, workers in patastatals were yet to receive the November and December salaries, adding that teachers and local government council staff were also being owed salaries for two months. The state’s leadership of the NLC had a few weeks ago picketed the office of the office of the state’s Accountant General over salary arrears of workers of parastatal and for allegedly withholding the union’s check-off dues.
In Kogi State, local government workers complained of receiving half of their monthly salaries for October and November, despite backlogs of unpaid previous ones. The chairman of NLC’s Plateau State chapter, Mr Jibrin Bancir, said that many workers in the state were being owed four months’ salaries and annual leave grant. The worst hit among workers in Plateau State are local government employees who have not been paid salaries in the past seven months.
Federal civil servants described as lacking in merit the government’s explanation that the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPS) had been programmed to reject irregular procedure and thus could be responsible for the delay in paying salaries. On their part, they attributed the non-payment of salaries of the three tiers of government to the cash-crunch they said was caused by dwindling oil revenue earnings from crude oil export in the past few months.
 It is not right under any circumstance for any government, whether federal, state, or local, to allow arrears of workers’ salaries to build up until they become a burden. Apart from the recent drop in monthly allocations that accrue to states from the federation account, some governors, especially those serving their second and last term in office, are known to give priority to personal and non-productive projects in the deployment of funds, neglecting areas that the money was statutorily earmarked for. It should go without articulating that state governments need to place salaries on first-line charge when they receive their monthly federal allocations.
Members of the executive branch at federal and state levels of governance need to be realistic in their budgeting procedures. The Office of the Head of Service of the Federation and of the various states in the federation should properly capture establishment provisions for every fiscal year, taking into account vacancies that may occur by way retirement, discipline and staff promotions.
States that have huge wage bills should contemplate cost-cutting measures, such as laying off redundant personnel.  Prudence in expenditure and sticking to budget provisions should be emphasised.
With federal and some state workers’ unions threatening showdowns with their employers over unpaid salaries and other grievances, government at all levels should take positive steps to avert a possible crisis by resolving all the issues in dispute, including the settlement of outstanding salaries and other benefits that workers are entitled to.