Photo caption: Minimum wage
The Federal Government has commenced the payment of the N35,000 wage award arrears to federal civil servants across the country.
This was disclosed in a statement issued on Monday by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, which confirmed that several government employees had already received the credit alerts, while others would receive theirs in due course.
The statement by the Director of Press and Public Relations at the OAGF, Bawa Mokwa, assured workers that all outstanding payments would be disbursed accordingly.
“The Federal Government has commenced payment of the N35,000 wage award arrears to federal government workers,” the statement read.
The OAGF further clarified that contrary to reports circulating in some sections of the online media, the Accountant General of the Federation, Mr Babatunde Ogunjimi, did not state that the wage award was excluded from the 2025 Budget.
“The Accountant-General of the Federation never said the N35,000 wage award was excluded from the 2025 Budget as reported by some online media,” the statement noted.
It added that Ogunjimi had not briefed the press on the matter of the wage award and reiterated that the outstanding arrears would be settled, in line with the government’s commitment to fulfilling its promises to workers.
The wage award, which was part of a palliative package negotiated in 2023 following the removal of fuel subsidy, is being paid in monthly instalments of N35,000 over a five-month period.
According to the OAGF, “The payments would be done in instalments of N35,000 for five months.” The PUNCH earlier reported that the Federal Government announced plans to commence the payment of the outstanding N35,000 wage award arrears owed to federal civil servants.
Last month, the OAGF noted that although the April 2025 salary would be paid separately, the first tranche of the wage award arrears would be released immediately after the April salary payment.
Earlier in January this year, the Federal Government assured workers that it would clear the arrears of the N35,000 wage award, just as it also said the government had resumed the payment of the wage award.
