Anambra Government Slashes Salaries of Civil Servants Over Monday Sit-at-Home Compliance

The Anambra State Government has slashed the February 2026 salaries of civil servants who failed to report to duty on Mondays, previously observed as sit-at-home days declared by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). The move has triggered complaints from affected workers, many of whom described the deductions as excessive and inconsistent.




The Anambra State Government has implemented pro-rata salary payments for civil servants who failed to report to work on Mondays, marking a decisive step to end compliance with the sit-at-home order previously enforced in the state.

The policy, which took effect in February 2026, mandates that workers’ salaries be calculated strictly based on the number of days worked. Authorities had earlier announced that full salary payments would no longer apply to employees who stay away from work on Mondays.

However, the enforcement has sparked outrage among civil servants at the Jerome Udoji State Secretariat in Awka. Several workers reported receiving drastically reduced salaries for February, with some claiming the deductions did not correspond with the actual number of Mondays they missed.

One staff member, who requested anonymity for fear of victimisation, disclosed that a colleague allegedly received only N10,000 after deductions. Another worker in the Ministry of Information said he received just N3,500 out of his usual salary of over N80,000.

According to him, the deductions appeared irregular.

“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,” he said.

Another affected employee expressed shock at the scale of deductions.

“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,” the worker stated.

Reacting to the complaints, the Anambra State Commissioner for Information, Law Mefor, confirmed that the salary cuts were intentional and part of a disciplinary measure to enforce compliance.

He explained that workers were required to clock in and clock out on Mondays as proof of attendance.

“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. But if you came to work on Mondays and didn’t clock in and clock out, it means you didn’t come to work because there is no evidence to show that you came to work,” he said.

The policy represents one of the strongest administrative measures by the Anambra State Government to restore full official working schedules on Mondays.

Authorities say the move is aimed at ending the lingering culture of Monday sit-at-home compliance and reinforcing public service discipline across ministries, departments and agencies.

As the controversy continues, many affected workers are calling for a review of the salary calculations to address what they describe as discrepancies in the deductions.