Public servants in Anambra State have continued to complain about what they described as arbitrary cuts to their salaries for February.

The cut is due to the Anambra State Government’s threat to commence pro rata salary payments effective February 2026 for workers across the state, as part of efforts to end the Monday sit-at-home ordered by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). In line with its threats, the government slashed the February salaries of workers who failed to report for work on Mondays, amid claims of arbitrary deductions.

It was gathered that the workers are not objecting to the deductions from their salaries for the Mondays they didn’t come to work, but they are concerned about apparent errors in the calculation of the deductions, ranging from one to 70 per cent, as reflected in the alerts for the February salaries received.

Two secondary school teachers in Awka South Local Government Area had their salaries cut for not reporting for work twice on Mondays. N8,000 and N18,000 were curiously deducted from their salaries.

At the Jerome Udoji State Secretariat in Awka, the state capital, where some teachers were besieging to lay their complaints yesterday, there were reports of workers receiving only N10,000 as payment for February after deductions, and in some instances, a large chunk, as much as over N80,000 of total salary, was cut, leaving the worker with just N3,500 for missing work for only two Mondays.

The worker (name withheld) who was first hit lamented: “I am surprised to see such large deductions when I received the alert for my February salary. Over N80,000 was deducted from my salary for missing work on two Mondays. I think it was miscalculated, as two Mondays should not have amounted to that much.”

Another worker, who requested anonymity, wondered: “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.”
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Reacting to the development, the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) in Anambra State, led by Comrade Tochukwuu Ifejika, applauded the State Government’s directive for civil servants to resume work fully on Mondays to boost economic stability and productivity.

However, NAWOJ, in a statement signed by the Chairperson, Tochukwu Ifejika, reasoned with the workers, expressing dissatisfaction with the non-commensurate deductions from the affected workers’ salaries. The women journalists called on the government to strengthen security across the state to ensure the safety of civil servants, business owners, students, and residents as they go about their legitimate activities on Mondays and other working days.

The statement made available to journalists yesterday also called for improved welfare packages for civil servants, including the rehabilitation of the Civil Servants Transportation Scheme, salary increases, and other benefits.

“This will be incentives to boost civil servants’ morale, which will ultimately increase productivity,” they said.

According to the communique, it remains unacceptable that women have yet to gain more political space, as shown by the lopsided outcome of the just-concluded All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) party’s primary for Local Government Area Election, where all the candidates returned for the party were male, with only one female.

“In view of the global call for the inclusion of women in governance, the association decried the sidelining of women in the said Party primaries at a time when the Nation is agog with increased awareness,” they said.

In a counter-move, the State Commissioner for Information, Dr Law Mefor, confirmed the implementation of pro-rata salary deductions for failure to report for work on Mondays.

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 end of your shift, 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.”