The February salaries of employees who did not show up for work on Mondays—days that the Indigenous People of Biafra had previously designated to be sit-at-home days—were cut by the Anambra State Government.

In an attempt to put an end to the Monday sit-at-home, the state administration reportedly announced the start of pro-rata wage payments for workers throughout the state, stating that civil officials’ salaries will be paid in accordance with pro-rata starting in February 2026.

Additionally, the state government seized the occasion to declare that the sit-at-home protest was over.

For several employees, however, it was a tale of woe when they received the warnings for the February paychecks, which included a pay decrease and large deductions.

Some employees at the Jerome Udoji State Secretariat in Awka, the state capital, complained to reporters on Tuesday that their salary deductions did not match the number of Mondays they were absent from work.

A coworker in his ministry was only paid N10,000 for February following the deductions, according to a worker who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of being victimized.

Another Ministry of Information employee bemoaned receiving only N3,500 out of his gross salary of nearly N80,000.

“One of my coworkers reported receiving her salary with N10,000 deducted,” he stated.

“The cuts are irregular, but some people who missed work just once or twice had significant deductions from their salaries, so I believe there were computation errors.”

“I am surprised to see huge deductions when I received the alert for my February salary,” remarked another impacted employee. My pay was withheld by more than N80,000 because I missed two Mondays of work. Two Mondays weren’t supposed to be up to that much, therefore I believe it was computed incorrectly.

Dr. Law Mefor, the state Commissioner for Information, told reporters that the deductions were a penalty for missing work on Mondays when they were approached about the development on Tuesday.

“The salary cut is a punishment for failing to come to work on Mondays,” stated Mefor. You were instructed to clock in when you arrived at work on Mondays and to clock out when the workday ended. That demonstrates your presence at work.

“However, if you showed up for work on Mondays but failed to clock in or out, it indicates that you did not show up because there is no proof that you did.”