A total of ₦1.969 trillion has been released by the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) for sharing by the three tiers of government for January.

Consequently, federal and state civil servants have started receiving their salary for the month.

The Federal Government got ₦653.5 billion as its own share while the 36 states received a total of ₦706.4 billion and the 774 local governments ₦513.2 billion.

Oil-producing states were allocated ₦96 billion as their 13 percent share from oil revenue.

A breakdown of the revenue showed that ₦846.5 billion came from Value Added Tax, ₦1.631 trillion from other statutory sources, and ₦38.1 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy.

Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite, confirmed yesterday to The Nation that federal government workers have begun to receive their salary through the banks.

“Federal civil servants have started receiving their January salaries. I can also confirm that I received mine on Friday,” the minister said.

She said if any state has not paid after the release of the funds, that has nothing to do with the federal government.

The Nation confirmed that several categories of federal workers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have already received their salaries. Judiciary staff, workers at the Budget Office of the Federation, and some employees of the Federal Capital Territory administration were among those who confirmed receiving their January pay.

Reports from the states yesterday also said many of them including Oyo,Plateau,Niger,Kogi,Ondo,Bayelsa and Edo have fulfilled their financial obligations to their workers for the month.

Edo State Finance Commissioner Emmanuel Okoebor said the state does not rely on allocation from the federation account to pay salary.

Okoebor said workers in the state government payroll have received their January salary.

The Edo Finance Commissioner said preparations were made ahead for salary payment before revenue from the federation account is shared.

But Kwara State civil servants are yet to be paid.

Their salary is usually paid by the 26th of every month.

An employee of a state owned agency said yesterday that their salary was not in as at yesterday.

When contacted, Trade Union Congress (TUC) Chairman in the state Abdulraman Onikijipa confirmed the development.

Comrade Onikijipa said that “maybe it is because of the budget. Maybe the salary will be paid next week.” (The Nation)