Food for thought for anybody that cares; "The civil servants constitute the vast majority of voters... Win thier heart then you win their votes".. Speaking about them Some federal and state workers face bleak Christmas as they are being owed October and November salaries and the possibility of them receiving their December salaries before Christmas is also grim.
Correspondents on Thursday learnt that federal and state agencies that managed to pay salaries of their workers were still owing pensioners. Findings revealed on Thursday that the latest drop in oil revenue has taken a further toll on the nation’s economy.
Nigeria witnessed a decline of N36.6bn in gross revenue from N536.69bn received in the month of October to N500.07bn in November.The figures were contained in a communiqué issued on Tuesday shortly after the Federation Account Allocation Committee meeting which was presided over by the Minister of State for Finance, Bashir Yuguda.
The communiqué attributed the decline in revenue to drastic drop of 33 per cent in export volume between September and October 2014 and a further drop in crude oil price from $87.78 in October. Figures obtained from the website of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries on Tuesday put the price of crude oil at $57.92 per barrel.
Findings by The PUNCH showed that the delay in paying salaries might not be unconnected with the shortfall in government oil revenue. Following the failure of the Federal Government to pay some of its workers, the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, said it would ask its members to embark on a nationwide strike if the Federal Government failed to pay the October and November salary arrears.
While calling on government to use the N9.2bn earmarked to buy stoves for “rural women” to offset the October and November salaries as well as that of December, the ASCSN urged the government to pay the affected workers before Christmas or “face the wrath of Nigerian workers.”
The Secretary-General of ASSCN, Mr. Alade Lawal, in a statement in Abuja on Thursday, expressed sadness that the Federal Government had not been able to pay thousands of civil servants for almost three months. He said, “As we write, information reaching us from informed quarters indicate that about 30 Ministries, Departments and Agencies will not pay December 2014 salaries to their employees. “It is very unfortunate that since October 2014, the Federal Ministries of Agriculture, Education, Works, Labour and Productivity as well as a host of other MDAs have not paid salaries to their workers.”
The ASCSN lamented that the reality on the ground was that “thousands of civil servants and their dependants would celebrate the Christmas and New Year in sorrow.” The union therefore called on President Goodluck Jonathan to intervene in the matter and ensure that civil servants were paid three-month salaries before the Yuletide so as to put smile on their faces. “We cannot understand how N9.2bn would be spent on stoves while workers who toil daily to keep the wheels of government functioning cannot be paid their meagre salaries”, the ASCSN stated.
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