The Anambra State Government has slashed the February salaries of civil servants who failed to report for duty on Mondays, previously observed as sit-at-home days declared by the Indigenous People of Biafra.
The state had earlier announced the commencement of pro-rata salary payments as part of efforts to end compliance with the Monday sit-at-home order. It said that, effective February 2026, workers’ salaries would be calculated based on days worked, while also declaring an end to the protest in the state.
However, several workers reported receiving significantly reduced salaries for February, sparking complaints at the Jerome Udoji State Secretariat in Awka. Some staff members told journalists that the deductions did not reflect the actual number of Mondays they missed.
One worker, who requested anonymity for fear of victimisation, said a colleague received only N10,000 after deductions. Another employee in the Ministry of Information said he received just N3,500 out of a salary of over N80,000.
He said, “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 worker added, “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.”
Reacting to the complaints, the state Commissioner for Information, Law Mefor, confirmed that the deductions were imposed as a disciplinary measure for failing to report to work on Mondays.
“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,” he said.
The policy marks one of the strongest administrative moves yet by the state government to enforce normal working activities on Mondays, as authorities seek to restore full compliance with official work schedules.
