Summary: Anambra State Government deducts salaries of civil servants who skipped work on Mondays during sit-at-home. Workers complain of excessive cuts, some left with as little as N3,500.
The Anambra State Government has made good on its threat to deduct salaries of civil servants who stayed away from work on Mondays—days previously observed as sit-at-home in compliance with the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) directive.
Workers across the state received shocking alerts in February, with some seeing deductions as high as N80,000 from their monthly pay, sparking widespread complaints at the Jerome Udoji State Secretariat in Awka.
Government Enforces Pro-Rata Payment System
The state government had earlier announced in February 2026 that it would implement a pro-rata salary payment system, meaning workers would only be paid for days actually worked. The policy was designed to stamp out compliance with the controversial Monday sit-at-home order that has crippled economic activities in the South-East for years.
To enforce the new policy, workers were mandated to clock in and clock out every Monday to prove their attendance. Those who failed to do so, regardless of whether they actually showed up, faced automatic deductions.
Workers Cry Foul Over “Excessive” Deductions
Despite the government’s warning, many civil servants were caught off guard by the severity of the salary cuts they received.
One worker, who spoke anonymously for fear of victimization, revealed that a colleague received only N10,000 after massive deductions. Another employee at the Ministry of Information said he was left with just N3,500 from a salary of over N80,000.
“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,” one aggrieved worker lamented.
Several workers complained that the deductions did not match the actual number of Mondays they missed, suggesting possible errors in the computation process.
“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 employee stated.
Government Defends Strict Implementation
Responding to the outcry, Anambra State Commissioner for Information, Law Mefor, defended the salary cuts as necessary disciplinary action.
“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,” Mefor explained.
He stressed that even workers who reported to duty but failed to clock in and out were treated as absent because there was no digital evidence of their attendance.
“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,” the commissioner added.
A Bold Move to Restore Normalcy
This policy represents one of the most decisive administrative actions taken by any South-East state government to end the sit-at-home culture that has strangled businesses, disrupted education, and hurt the regional economy.
While the government insists the measure is necessary to restore discipline and normalcy, workers are calling for a review of the computation process to correct what they describe as excessive and unfair deductions.
As the standoff continues, all eyes will be on whether other South-East states will adopt similar hardline measures or seek alternative approaches to end the Monday lockdown that has become a thorn in the region’s economic flesh.
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