The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN)
has called on the Federal Government to pay civil servants their December
salaries and outstanding emoluments since July 2013 or risk industrial action.
In a statement on December 30, 2013, Monday, the Union
disclosed that thousands of federal civil servants were yet to be paid their
December 2013 salaries, adding that the affected workers and their families
spent Christmas in pain and bore the pangs of hunger.
The ASCSN maintained that the inability of the Federal
Government to pay salaries had lent credence to the belief in some quarters
that the managers of the public sector economy were “grossly incompetent and
rabidly corrupt”.
The statement signed by the union’s secretary, Alade Lawal,
called on the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to explain to
Nigerians why the Federal Government could no longer pay salaries to its
employees as and when due.
It added that it had become necessary for the minister to
address the nation on the embarrassing situation since she has continued to
maintain that the country is not broke.
The union said it was disheartening that the civil servants,
who are the least paid in Africa, South of the Sahara, could no longer get
their meagre salaries on due date, stressing that the delay was pushing the
workers and their unions to the wall.
It also appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan to step in
and order the finance minister to pay civil servants their salaries without
further delay, adding that the necessary machinery should be put in place to
ensure that such an embarrassing situation does not repeat itself.
The statement further called on the Trade Union Congress of
Nigeria (TUC), the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), civil society groups and
prominent individuals to prevail on government to pay members their salaries to
avert disruption of services in the public service.
Reacting to the threat by civil servants to go on strike,
the finance ministry said that it was investigating the complaint on the non-payment
of December salaries and emoluments for six months this year.
It promised to provide updates as appropriate.
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