The February salary of employees who did not show up for work on Mondays—days that the Indigenous People of Biafra had previously declared sit-at-home days—were lowered by the Anambra State Government.
In an attempt to put an end to the Monday sit-at-home, the state administration reportedly announced the start of pro-rata wage payments for workers throughout the state, stating that starting in February 2026, governmental servants’ salaries will be paid according to pro-rata.
Additionally, the state government took advantage of the occasion to declare an end to the sit-at-home protest.
For several employees, however, it was a tale of woe when they received the warnings regarding their February paychecks, which included large deductions and a pay decrease.
However, some employees at the Jerome Udoji State Secretariat in Awka, the state capital, complained to reporters on Tuesday that the amount deducted from their pay did not match the number of Mondays they did not show up for work.
A coworker in his ministry only received N10,000 as remuneration for February following the deductions, according to a worker who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of being victimized.
Another Ministry of Information employee bemoaned receiving only N3,500 of his above N80,000 annual wage.
“One of my colleagues said she received her salary with N10,000 deducted,” he stated.
“The cuts are irregular, but I believe there were computation errors because some people had significant deductions from their salaries even though they only missed work once or twice.”
“I am surprised to see huge deductions when I received the alert for my February salary,” another impacted employee stated. My pay was withheld by more over N80,000 for missing two Mondays of work. Two Mondays weren’t meant to be up to that amount, thus I believe the calculation was off.
The state Commissioner for Information, Dr. Law Mefor, acknowledged to reporters on Tuesday that the deductions were a penalty for missing work on Mondays.
“The pay reduction is a penalty for not showing up for work on Mondays,” Mefor stated. On Mondays, you were instructed to clock in and out at the end of the workday. That’s to demonstrate that you arrived for work.
“However, if you arrived at work on Mondays but failed to clock in and out, it indicates that you did not show up because there is no proof that you did.”
