Governors of the federation’s recent boycott of the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting has taken a toll on the timely payment of their workers’ salaries and other key financial obligations of the states.
The governors had on Wednesday, February 19, 2024, boycotted the meeting due to a dispute between states and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Ltd over unpaid N1.7 trillion remittances.
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Later on Thursday, the federal government, states and local government areas announced the sharing of N1.703tn in federation account revenue for January 2025.
This was contained in a press release by the director (Press and Public Relations) in the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Bawa Mokwa.
But investigation by LEADERSHIP Sunday showed that most of the state governments, which used to pay their workers’ salaries between 23rd and 25th of every month, were yet to do so as on Friday, the last day of February 2025.
Some state governments’ officials, who spoke with our correspondents, attributed the delay in the payment of the workers’ salaries to the governors’ boycott of FAAC.
In Kebbi State, some officials said there was no news of the payment of February salary, a day to the end of the month, describing it as unusual.
The money has been pending since the federal government removed the petrol subsidy.
When LEADERSHIP Sunday contacted the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation on the matter on Thursday, an official said it had been resolved and a communique would be issued.
“Having fixed salary payment on or before the 28th of every month, Governor Alex Otti will consider failure as a clog in the wheel of progress of the state,” a source in the Ministry of Finance said.
Arguing that Otti may raise the funds internally without external borrowing, he said it would be an opportunity for him “to prove his prudence acumen as an ex-banker.”
Interestingly, the Bayelsa State has commenced the payment of civil servants’ salaries for the month of February. This was confirmed by the state secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade John Angese. The former Bayelsa NUJ chairman said workers in the state started receiving their salaries since Monday, February 24, 2025.
In Cross River State, the chief press secretary to the governor, Mr. Nsa Gill, said the Governor Bassey Otu and his counterparts met with officials of FAAC on February 24 and resolved the dispute.
He said that salaries of workers would be paid, stressing that what happened last week between governors and FAAC was a normal disagreement which had been settled.
The Gombe State government was silent on the delay in the payment of February salaries and operations due to the boycott of the FAAC meeting by governors.
Despite repeated attempts to get a comment from the state commissioner for finance and economic development, Mohammed Magaji, through WhatsApp and text messages sent since Tuesday, he did not respond to any of them.
