The Anambra State Government has announced plans to commence pro-rata salary payments for public sector workers as part of measures aimed at ending the Monday sit-at-home enforced by the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra in the state.
The government said the policy would take effect from February 2026, with civil servants to be paid salaries based on the number of days worked within each month.
The Commissioner for Information, Law Mefor, disclosed this on Saturday while speaking with journalists in Awka. He explained that the decision was reached during the end-of-tenure retreat of the Anambra State Executive Council.
Mefor said salaries would be calculated by dividing a worker’s monthly pay by the 24 official working days, adding that earnings would depend on actual attendance.
“The thing has to be done. Four years is enough. The economic loss of the sit-at-home runs into trillions since it started, according to an international firm.”
“It is a decision the state government has taken, and the implementation is already ongoing,” he said.
According to the commissioner, the retreat was convened to assess the performance of the administration of Governor Chukwuma Soludo as it rounds off its first four-year term and to define priorities for the next term beginning on March 17, 2026.
He said discussions at the retreat showed that public and civil servants had consistently stayed away from work on Mondays over the past four years, citing insecurity and lack of transportation.
Mefor noted, however, that those conditions no longer existed.
“The retreat acknowledged that even though these factors existed in the past, they no longer exist, making them invalid reasons for absenteeism from work. The workers were simply enjoying the sit-at-home because they know that whether they come to work or not, they will be paid salaries.
“The ANSEC retreat has decided to put a stop to the anomaly. Ordinarily, the matter should be treated as a case of absenteeism, which could lead to dismissal from service, as captured in the civil service law.
“But we are not following that route. The state government has decided to pay pro-rata from this February. So, if you don’t want to lose your salary for that Monday, then you come to work.
“The mechanism is already in place, and forms are being devised so that workers can clock in on Monday morning and clock out at the close of work.”
He further stated that the continued absence of civil servants on Mondays had slowed down government activities and hurt the state’s economy.
“Any day civil servants fail to come to work, it means that the state government’s business will stagnate and, by implication, the economy of the state will stagnate. Income accruable to the government will be lost, and there’s no guarantee that such losses can be recovered.
“For example, if the staff of the Anambra Internal Revenue Service and other MDAs decide to be absent from work on Monday, the state loses a lot of money and impedes the progress of work. This is part of the reason for the decision to pay pro-rata: it is to ensure that every naira spent reflects fairness, efficiency and sustainability.
“Do we now say we give up Monday and take Saturday as a working day? That will not work. It will mean that Anambra State has yielded to whoever introduced this sit-at-home, and again, we will be the only state working on Saturdays in Nigeria, and that will be absurd.
“So, it is only reasonable to start with this pro-rata payment to get the workers to resume on Mondays. The state is losing so much due to the sit-at-home, and the government cannot be asking the markets and other informal sectors to show up on Monday when its own workforce has refused to come,” he added.
Mefor also said the government was engaging market leaders to encourage the reopening of markets on Mondays, while strengthening security measures to boost traders’ confidence to return to business activities at the start of the week.
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