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The Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Ahmed Idris, has
stated that salaries of all workers on the Federal Government payroll
will be paid in spite of the ongoing labour strike.
Idris gave this commitment on Thursday while speaking to newsmen at the Treasury House in Abuja.
He said: “We have a standing order from Mr. President to pay
workers salaries from the 25th of every month, which we have striven
hard to fulfill to Nigerian workers and this month will not be an
exception”.
He, however, said that the payment of salaries cannot be achieved
in an atmosphere where the critical stakeholders are not allowed access
to their offices.
“I must explain that salary payment involves a number of processes that do not begin and end with the OAGF.
“There are other critical stakeholders like the Cash Management
Department in Ministry of Finance and others who are supposed to do
their beat before we can finalise.
“On coming to the office this morning we met the gates of the
office locked and wondered how we can keep this promise if we are being
locked out of the office.
“After speaking with the local arm of the Labour in the office
on the need to pay salaries, they conceded to allow me and some of my
staff in but the gates are still locked.”
The AGF further appealed to the national leadership of labour to
reconsider their stand on the industrial action, saying the President
Muhammadu Buhari government had demonstrated high commitment towards
meeting the welfare of workers.