FG begins payment of N35,000 wage award arrears to workers

By Kunle Sanni

The Federal Government has commenced the disbursement of the long-awaited N35,000 wage award arrears to civil servants across the country, in line with its commitment to cushion the economic impact of subsidy removal and other ongoing reforms.

The Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) confirmed the development in a statement issued in Abuja on Monday. The statement, signed by the Director of Press and Public Relations, Bawa Mokwa, revealed that many federal employees have already received the first tranche of the payment, while others will be credited in the coming days.

Each worker is entitled to a total of N175,000, paid in five monthly instalments of N35,000.

The wage award is part of a temporary palliative measure introduced by the Federal Government last year to support workers amid rising living costs, pending the conclusion of negotiations on a new national minimum wage.

The OAGF also dismissed reports claiming that the wage award was omitted from the 2025 national budget. It clarified that the Accountant General of the Federation, Mr. Babatunde Ogunjimi, never made such a statement.

“There was no press briefing by the Accountant General on the matter of the wage award,” the OAGF stated. “Any report quoting him as excluding the N35,000 from the 2025 budget is entirely false.”

The office reaffirmed the government’s commitment to settling all outstanding arrears in full, in line with assurances made to organised labour and public sector workers.

The rollout of the payments follows months of pressure from labour unions demanding the implementation of the government’s promise to ease the burden of recent economic adjustments.