Government workers in Ekiti State have decried the withdrawal of their salaries, few minutes after most of them received bank alerts of payment on Friday.
The workers, many of who are owed three months arrears, had celebrated on receiving the alerts of payment of two months arrears.
Their joy turned “sour” when they received another alert reversing the payment.
The development forced many of them to make phone calls to their colleagues to confirm if they had the same experience.
Some of the workers, who pleaded for anonymity, expressed shock with the development which they said has dampened their morale and exposed them to ridicule.
A Grade Level 13 officer said: “I was very happy when I received alert that my account has been credited with two months salaries and I started calculating how I would spend it but I was shocked to receive another alert within an hour withdrawing the money paid into my account.”
Commissioner for Information Lanre Ogunsuyi said the government was sorry for the inconvenience which he attributed to “an error by the firm handling the computerisation of accounts”.
Ogunsuyi said: “We are aware of the development and I want to say that government is sorry for the inconvenience this might have caused our workers. Today, everybody will get one-month pay.
“It was an error by the firm that handled the computerisation of accounts, it was an error by our service provider.”
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has warned Governor Ayo Fayose to stop deceiving workers.
In a statement yesterday by its Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, the APC warned Fayose against persecuting union leaders for demanding for workers’ rights.
Olatunbosun described the action of crediting workers’ accounts only to withdraw same after media hype as “callous and highly fraudulent”.
He warned Fayose to “stop playing games with the lives of workers”.
According to him, Fayose’s inconsistent figures on the state debts and non-transparent manner in the conduct of government’s business were enough for workers to lose faith in him.
He said: “This is not the first time the governor is doing this to workers. He did it to primary school teachers last year when he learnt that they were to embark on strike.
“That is what he did last week after learning of strike plan by teachers after they refused to help him in a solidarity rally to save him from Ekitigate probe.”
“The governor who said the state was broke suddenly paid two months salary after learning that the teachers were bent on protesting the non-payment of their salary arrears, even though he quickly reversed a month salary from their accounts after workers were celebrating payment of two months arrears.
“As we speak, Fayose is threatening labour leaders for legitimately asking for the rights of workers.
“He has relocated government business to Afao- Ekiti just as he did when he was about to be impeached in 2006.”