The Chairman of the Federal Capital Territory Civil Service Commission, Emeka Ezeh, has formally apologized to the civil servants in the services of the FCT Administration for withholding their April salaries. About 230 civil servants, including those in senior and managerial cadres were affected and tagged: ABSCONDMENT.
According to Ezeh, the salaries were withheld due to a human error encountered during an effort to sanitise the payroll system.
Ezeh spoke to the workers who staged a peaceful protest at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja. The protest was done by members of the FCTA Joint Union Action Committee, led by its president, Rifkatu Lortyer.
The chairman said that the measures were part of efforts to identify and eliminate ghost workers, but inadvertently led to the exclusion of legitimate personnel.
“We were trying to clean up the payroll and in the process, some genuine staff were mistakenly affected. I sincerely apologise for the inconvenience. The affected salaries will be released between now and Friday.”
On the delayed promotions, the chairman assured staff that the commission is in the final stages of concluding the process and that the deserving promotions would soon be implemented.
The protesters had earlier demanded immediate explanations and resolution of the crisis caused by the sudden stoppage of their salaries. Brandishing placards, they said: “we are not ghosts. We work every day. Why should our salaries be stopped without warning?”
They demanded the release of overdue promotions, saying that staff had been denied advancement for over two years despite meeting eligibility requirements.
