By Nchetachi Chukwuajah
Workers in the employ of the Anambra State government are lamenting the deductions in their February salaries for failing to come to work on Mondays, which were earlier declared sit-at-home days by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
This comes as the government began implementation of pro-rata payment, which became effective from February, as part of measures to end the Monday sit-at-home order.
The workers lamented the deductions as they received the alerts for the February salaries with significant deductions and a pay cut.
The workers sighted within the Jerome Udoji State Secretariat in Awka on Tuesday, March 3, complained that the deductions from their salaries did not correspond with the number of Mondays they failed to report to work.
Speaking with journalists on the condition of anonymity, a worker said a colleague in his ministry received only N10,000 as payment for February after the deductions.
A worker in the Ministry of Information disclosed that out of his total salary of over N80,000, he received just N3,500.
“One of my colleagues said she received her salary with N10,000 deducted.
“The cuts are irregular, but I think there were errors in the computation because some people who missed work only once or twice had substantial deductions from their salaries,” the worker disclosed.
Another affected worker said, “I am surprised to see huge deductions when I received the alert for my February salary. Over N80,000 was deducted from my salary for missing work for two Mondays. I think it was miscalculated, as two Mondays were not supposed to be up to that amount.”
Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Information in the state, Dr Law Mefor, confirmed the development to journalists on Tuesday.
He said the deductions were punishment for failure to come to work on Mondays, adding that the government established a clocking measure to ensure accountability and transparency.
Mefor said, “The salary cut is a punishment for failure to come to work on Mondays. The instruction was that when you come to work on Mondays, you clock in, and at the close of work, you clock out. That is to show that you came to work.
“But, if you came to work on Mondays, but you didn’t clock in, and didn’t clock out, it means that you didn’t come to work because there is no evidence to show that you came to work.”
