By KADIRI ABDULRAHMAN

Many federal civil servants have called on the Federal Government to take urgent steps to clear the outstanding three months N35 000 wage arrears.

The government workers spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja, amid soaring cost of living in the country.

They decried the unexplained delay in payment of the arrears.

Dr Uche Anune said that the government should not wait until workers feel agitated or start complaining before fulfilling its obligations.

?I am seeing a pattern that whenever there is anything at stake, the government tends to be relaxed about it until some people start agitating or engaging in some form of protest.

?That should not be the case,? he said.

Mr Joseph Edeh urged the government to clear the outstanding three months arrears of the wage award without further delay.

Edeh said that the delay had casted doubts on the sincerity of the Federal Government.

?On the issue of this N35,000 wage award, honestly, as a civil servant and as a Nigerian, I have lost faith.

?They told us that we had an outstanding of five months, after paying two months they stopped. Why are they treating us like this? Nobody is happy about this,.

?What they should do is to clear the areas; pay the remaining three months at once and forget about it,? he said.

Miss Franca Ofili urged the Federal Government to fulfill its promise and save civil servants the burden of expectation.

?The government should try and clear the arrears because that 35,000 can go a long way to solve a lot of our financial problems.

?We need the money, they should clear the outstanding three months arrears at once, ? she said.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government said that it was committed to clearing the remaining three months arrears of N35,000 wage award without further delay.

Mr Bawa Mokwa, the Director, Press and Public Relations, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF), however, said that the payment was subject to the availability of funds.

Mokwa said that with the payment of the second tranche in .August, it was remaining three tranches to exhaust the wage award arrears.

?Contrary to insinuations in some quarters, the Federal Government has not reneged on payment of the wage award arrears.

?The Federal Government will continue to pay the wage award in installments of N35,000 per month until the outstanding arrears is exhausted,? he said. (NAN)

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