The Anambra State Government has reduced 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 (IPOB).
The state had announced the introduction of pro-rata salary payments to discourage compliance with the Monday sit-at-home order, declaring that salaries would henceforth reflect actual days worked. The measure, effective February 2026, coincided with a formal end to the protest in the state.
Despite the policy, several workers reported receiving significantly reduced salaries, raising complaints at the Jerome Udoji State Secretariat in Awka. Some employees said the deductions did not accurately reflect the number of Mondays missed. One worker, requesting anonymity, revealed that a colleague received only N10,000 after deductions, while another in the Ministry of Information said his pay dropped to N3,500 from over N80,000.
Reacting to the concerns, the state Commissioner for Information, Law Mefor, confirmed that the cuts were disciplinary, targeting those who failed to report to work. He explained, “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. But, if you didn’t clock in or out, it means that you didn’t come to work because there is no evidence to show that you came.”
The policy represents one of the state’s strictest measures yet to ensure full compliance with official work schedules, as authorities aim to restore normal operations on Mondays across the civil service.
