FG not owing December salary, APC replies PDP

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has dismissed the claim by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) that the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration has failed to pay the December salary of Federal Civil Servants as unfounded. The main opposition party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, made the assertion in a statement on Saturday.

The National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Barrister Felix Morka, in a statement on Sunday, said there was no truth in the PDP’s claim that federal workers were denied their December salary. Morka maintained that the welfare of workers remains a top priority of the Tinubu administration and is at the core of his Renewed Hope Agenda.

The statement reads in part:

Feigning concern for Nigerian workers, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), in a statement dated December 30, 2023, criticized the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration over the “delayed” payment of December salaries to federal workers. The rather flimsy statement also attempted to portray the administration as undermining the economic well-being of Nigerians.

“For the record, the December salaries of federal workers have been paid. But that fact poses an insurmountable challenge for the decrepit PDP to ascertain or verify. The Party would rather flaunt its folly, incompetence, envy, and confusion in a statement that is disgracefully bereft of reason or cogency.

“Indubitably, President Bola Tinubu’s administration has demonstrated far greater sensitivity and commitment to workers’ welfare in his few months in office than all of the PDP’s 16 years of reckless and profligate rule. In the best interest of workers, the administration has continued to promote qualitative dialogue and engagement with organized labour in the prevention and resolution of disputes.

“The welfare of Nigerian workers is at the core of the conception and implementation of the administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda. The PDP’s reckless statement cannot possibly be referring to the same APC-led administration that approved the delisting of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) as a panacea to recurring ASUU strikes, instituted a program of access to student loans; granted N5 billion as palliative for 36 states of the federation; approved an additional N35,000 wage bonus for workers as palliative for three months; the upward review of minimum wage; payment of backlog for N-Power participants, and cash transfer of N25,000 to vulnerable Nigerians for six months; grants for farmers and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and free train rides as well as a 50 per cent discount in transportation fare for commuters during the yuletide. PDP’s accusations are nothing short of barefaced dishonesty and partisan pettiness.

“It is hypocritical for the PDP that perverted the fuel subsidy regime, fed fat from the corruption of that system and displayed a gross lack of political will to end that economic hemorrhage to be idly pontificating about savings made from ending that system against their irresponsible objections. The money saved belongs to Nigerians and is being prudently utilized on their behalf.

“The PDP is crying wolf and peddling misinformation even when organized labor, the defenders of workers’ rights, has maintained a mature understanding and disposition. The statement cuts a pitiful profile of a party with a sordid history and a murky future.

“Nigerians are clear that President Tinubu’s reforms are designed to reposition and restore the nation to greatness and sustainable prosperity.”