The Anambra State Government has reduced the February salaries of employees who failed to appear for work on Mondays, which were previously designated as sit-at-home days by the Indigenous People of Biafra.
This action follows the government’s announcement of pro-rata salary payments starting in February 2026, a move intended to discourage the sit-at-home practice and signal the formal end of the protest.
Many civil servants expressed deep distress after receiving salary alerts that reflected significant deductions. At the Jerome Udoji State Secretariat in Awka, workers noted that the amount taken from their pay did not seem to match the number of days they were actually absent.
One anonymous staff member shared that a colleague received a total payment of only N10,000 for the month, while another employee from the Ministry of Information reported receiving just N3,500 despite usually earning over N80,000.
Regarding the irregularities, one worker stated: “One of my colleagues said she received her salary with N10,000 deducted. 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.”
Another affected individual remarked: “I am surprised to see huge deductions when I received the alert for my February salary. Over N80,000 was deducted from my salary for missing work for two Mondays. I think it was miscalculated, as two Mondays were not supposed to be up to that amount.”
The state Commissioner for Information, Dr. Law Mefor, confirmed on Tuesday that these deductions were a penalty for those who did not comply with the Monday work directive.
Mefor explained the government’s stance: “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 close of work, 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.”
