Civil servants under the employment of the Federal Government are facing a low-key Christmas celebrations following the delay in payment of their December 2024 salaries.

The PUNCH also learnt that federal workers suffered delayed salaries in November 2024.

Findings by our correspondents revealed that most federal workers received their November 2024 salaries during the second week of December.

Multiple sources within the civil service told The PUNCH that the fault came from the office of the Accountant General of the Federation while other sources others noted that the delay was as a result of migration to a new payment platform.

Speaking on the delayed salaries, our correspondent, who visited the Federal Secretariat on Tuesday morning, met with a few civil servants who expressed their grievances over the matter.

A civil servant, who spoke under the condition of anonymity out of regard for civil service rules, said, “To be very honest, I am not traveling for the holidays this year because I don’t have the money. Our November salaries came very late and by the time we were paid, a lot of us were already in debt. We felt things would be different this December but the reverse is the case.”

Another civil servant, who also spoke under the condition of anonymity, said, “There is nothing shocking about this new development because our November salaries came late. Some of us prepared ahead, even though it is not enough. The cost of food items have gone up, clothes for my children and all. Payment of the December salaries at the moment will really go a long way.”

An Assistant Director in one of the MDAs outside Abuja, said, “This delay in salary payment is getting too much. It is Christmas and yet some of us can’t even buy meat talk less getting chicken for our family members. The government needs to consider our welfare.”

However, the Federal Government has explained the reasons behind recent delays in salary payments to civil servants, attributing the issue to shortfalls in allocations to some ministries and agencies.

Speaking with The PUNCH on Tuesday, the Director of Press and Public Relations at the Office of the Accountant-General, Mr Bawa Mokwa, confirmed that payments commenced on Monday and that measures had been taken to address the discrepancies.

“They have started paying since yesterday,” Mokwa stated.

He further acknowledged the delays experienced last month, saying, “Last month, you will observe that some people didn’t get their salaries on time. Some ministries were having shortfall. Yesterday, they paid all, and even the ones that had shortfall, they ensured that they were augmented and paid. So, it now depends on the banks.”

Explaining the root of the problem, Mokwa noted that the implementation of the new minimum wage had affected the salary allocations for some ministries.

“When they started paying the new minimum wage, the money assigned for salaries to these ministries was affected by the minimum wage. So, that led to shortfall for the ministries. That is what the government has addressed and augmented for all ministries to ensure that the salary was paid yesterday,” he explained.

The Accountant-General of the Federation, Dr Oluwatoyin Madein, also confirmed during an earlier event that the salaries had been paid.

However, Mokwa added that the timing of the funds reflecting in employees’ accounts would depend on individual banks.

“It varies from bank to bank on how it will drop, but they have been paid,” he said.

In July 2024, President Bola Tinubu approved an increase in the minimum wage for Nigerian workers from N30,000 to N70,000.

Earlier in January this year, the National Assembly reduced the allocation for minimum wage and salary-related payments for Ministries, Departments, and Agencies by 45 per cent in the approved 2024 budget.

President Bola Tinubu initially proposed a budget of N1tn for Public Service Wage Adjustment for MDAS (including Arrears of Promotion and Salary Increases and Payment of Severance benefits and Minimum Wage Related Adjustments).

However, the approved budget by the National Assembly and signed by the president was a significant reduction to N550bn for the same fiscal item, indicating a decrease of N450bn from the proposed amount.

Following the approval of a new minimum wage, the Federal Government said that the N3tn recurrent component of the N6.2tn supplementary budget presented to the National Assembly would largely be used to address the new national minimum wage.

In the proposed 2025 budget, the Federal Government allocated N845.28bn to address minimum wage-related adjustments following the recent increase of the minimum wage to N70,000.

The allocation is part of the Service-Wide Vote detailed in the 2025 budget, which was presented by President Bola Tinubu to the National Assembly.

The PUNCH earlier reported that the Federal Government indicated that its spending on personnel costs would increase by at least 60 per cent in 2025.

It said this is due to the implementation of the new national minimum wage and consequential adjustments for all cadres of the federal civil service.

According to the 2025-2027 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper, about N4.1tn was budgeted as personnel expenditure in the 2024 budget; hence, a 60 per cent increase means an additional N2.46tn and a total sum of N6.56tn.

The PUNCH also reported that the Federal Government plans to spend N8.52tn (inclusive of government enterprises) on personnel and pension costs for federal workers next year.

An analysis of the 2025 Appropriation Bill showed that this amount is an increase of N3.17tn or 59.16 per cent from the 2024 provision of N5.35tn.

The document also showed that government expenses on the payment of salaries alone would reach N7.54tn, marking an increase of N2.75tn from N4.79tn paid to federal workers in 2024.

The personnel and pension costs of N8.52tn and the debt service cost of N16.33tn make up a total sum of N24.85tn, gulping 53.98 per cent out of the total N46.02tn 2025 budget.

It was also observed that the government would spend more on debt servicing than it would spend on paying the salaries and pensions of its workers.

The Special Adviser to the President Bola Tinubu on Economic Matters, Tope Fasua, has said a weaker currency for the country was one of the best policies of the government.

Tope Fasua said the country’s currency’s low performance in comparison to other currencies has focused the attention of businesses on sourcing local raw materials.

In an interview with Arise TV on Monday night, Fasua noted that the current exchange rate has also stopped Nigerians from leaving the country for other countries.

Fasua argued that Nigeria has more students in the United States and the United Kingdom than most developed countries, not because the country’s education was totally bad but because of wrong choices. He said the weak Naira was also addressing it.

“I’m giving the advantage of making that currency weaker. Because now we’re focusing more on Naira and what Naira can do. We’re focusing more on what we can do ourselves. We’re focusing more on Nigerian raw materials. Many manufacturing companies have now started sourcing local raw materials rather than importing them.

“A lot of people aren’t traveling as many times as they would before. That’s one of the things, especially the middle class. And our middle class were special people. I mean, we assumed that we could travel five, six times on business class every year.

“How come Nigeria is the third or fourth country with the highest number of university students in the U.K. and the U.S. of all the countries in the world, we are rubbing shoulders with China with 1.4 or 1.5 billion people, we’re only 200 million people. That means that we’re putting so much money. It is not necessarily a failure of our education. It’s just aspiration. It’s aspiration,” he said.

The President’s Economic Adviser stressed that it was wrong for critics to assume the country would grow to be like Western nations that have been developing for years.

He emphasized that many Nigerians complaining of no work have decided not to work. According to him, the country has work for the citizens.

“The fact that we are rubbing shoulders and expecting that our economy and society will be at par with even the people that gave us colonization, who have had maybe 2,000 years of documented history. That means we have been preposterous. We’ve been preposterous, you know, because we can’t, your child cannot try and be you today. He has to learn and grow. And it’s also a matter of time.

“It’s good that the Naira has become weaker, but it has made us focus more. However, what we’re saying is that for those who are enterprising, for people who have work, who want to work, indeed, there’s work in this country. For those who want to work,” Fasua added.

Lere Olayinka, Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, has urged the Director of Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), Prof Ishaq Akintola, to limit himself to issues of the propagation of Islam, and desist from promoting religious discord among Nigerians.

Olayinka, who was reacting to a statement by Prof Akintola, on the suspension of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Engr. Shehu Ahmad Hadi, said the Minister was not running FCTA based on religion.

He said “the suspended FCTA Executive Secretary was not appointed as a Muslim and anyone trying to cover his suspension with the garment of religion will be doing a disservice to religious harmony in the country.”

The FCT Minister’s spokesperson pointed out that “just as it is not obligatory for he who appoints to give reasons for appointing, it will also not be obligatory for he who suspends to tell the public reasons for suspending as long as the person suspended knows why he was suspended.

“Most importantly, the position of the FCDA Executive Secretary is not a family chieftaincy title and the business of the office once occupied by Engr. Shehu Ahmad Hadi, is running perfectly.”

While calling the attention of Prof Akintola to Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) position on obedience to authorities, Olayinka said; “I doubt if Prof Akintola is aware that on the authority of Abu Huraira, it was narrated that Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) said; ‘It is obligatory for you to listen to the ruler and obey him in adversity and prosperity, in pleasure and displeasure, and even when another person is given (rather undue) preference over you.’

“If Prof Akintola is aware of this and has imbibed it, he will simply counsel the suspended FCTA Executive Secretary to accept his fate as a Muslim, rather than this seeming sponsorship of media attacks against the Minister and fanning the embers of religious discord.”