By DAVID ADEOYE

The National Coordinator, Federal Workers Forum, Mr Andrew Emelieze, has said that the Federal Government (FG) should have considered clearing the backlog of arrears owed to federal workers before announcing new allowances.

Emelieze said this in Ibadan on Tuesday, while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the recent announcement of increased allowances for federal civil servants.

NAN recalls that the FG had said the upward review of allowances would boost the well-being of federal workers and promote productivity.

The forum’s coordinator, however, criticised the move, describing it as confusing.

According to him, the payment of accumulated arrears should have taken precedence.

He mentioned promotional arrears, two months of outstanding wage awards, and Duty Tour Allowances (DTAs) as some of the unpaid obligations.

“We expected the government to have done this before coming up with this package. Doing so would have given us a sense of belonging to start with,” he said.

Emelieze also dismissed the pronouncement on peculiar allowance as a recycled issue.

“We’ve always had peculiar allowance right from the time of the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

“The administration gave us the peculiar allowance, paid it for about six months before the same administration ended it; it has been 40 per cent,” he said.

He, however, argued that the 40 per cent peculiar allowance should have taken effect immediately after the new minimum wage was signed into law in July 2021.

“Instead, the government continued paying the old rate.

“Now, with the implementation set for May 1, what will happen to the arrears that are supposed to have accrued to this peculiar allowance, right from the time the last minimum wage was implemented?

“Failure to pay these arrears effectively rips federal workers off and renders agitations by the NLC, TUC, and Federal Workers Forum for the balance, null and void,” he said.

While welcoming the government’s pledge to roll out a mortgage programme for federal workers, Emelieze wondered if it differed from previous schemes.

The previous schemes, he said, required applicants to present a Certificate of Occupancy (CofO) and evidence of ongoing construction before they could access loans.

“You cannot be telling a worker you want to give a housing loan that he must have started building and present a CofO.

“Where will the person get the money to get it? Where will the person get money to buy the land?” he asked.

He said for the scheme to work, the loan should cover land acquisition, processing of title documents, and construction through completion.

He explained that otherwise, the stringent measures would discourage workers from patronising the loan, and this would not be in the workers’ interest.

Emelieze further urged the FG to revamp the nation’s economy and also pay a cost-of-living allowance to its workforce.

According to him, the real solution lies in reworking the economy and strengthening the Naira’s purchasing power.

“If the government can do this, nobody will agitate for an increase in salaries.

“In the interim, the government should pay a cost-of-living allowance to help workers cope with inflation, subsidy removal, and recent petrol price hikes, linked to the Iran-American crisis,” he said.

The federal workers’ forum coordinator also urged President Bola Tinubu to convene a town hall meeting with public servants across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), alongside National Assembly leaders.

“It should not just be meetings with stakeholders or with labour leaders.

“Let it be a town hall meeting where the president will be with civil servants from the different MDAs; there, everyone can speak their mind,” he said.

Such a meeting, he said, would expose the president to the problems confronting federal government workers in Nigeria, with the outcome helping to reduce all forms of agitations. (NAN)