From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
FOR the second day running, the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, was yesterday barred from having access to her office following a protest by the Ministry of Finance workers, which commenced on Monday.
The protest also affected the Federation Accounts Al- location Committee (FAAC) meeting, which would have been held yesterday, indicating that salaries of state workers may be delayed this month.
The Finance Ministry workers who came out in their numbers also prevented movements to and from the of- fices.
Pleas from a Divisional Police Officer (DPO) and the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Alhaji Mahmoud Dutse, were not enough to douse the tension as the workers insisted that the Minister must come to tell them how she would liquidate the accumulated N1.2 billion Special Overtime (SOT) allowance.
Meanwhile, the FAAC meeting, which would have been held yesterday was shelved because of the protest. Most states depend on the allocation to pay salaries and contractors’ fees.
But with this development, it is not likely that the states will receive the money this month, given that this is the third week in July.
Some of the placards pasted on the gate of the Ministry read: “Enough of intimidation by Kemi Adeosun”; “Adeosun is an agent of negative change”.
Recall that the management of the Ministry had responded to the workers’ allegations by explaining that the SOT allowance, which    is the crux of the matter, was not part of the remuneration in the Federal Public Service and so the protests have no justifiable grounds.
But defending the Ministry’s action, the Director, of In- formation, Ministry of Finance, Salisu Na’nna Dambatta, in a statement explained that the payment was stopped by the last administration in 2014 on the grounds that it was not listed in any extant government circular, financial regulations or the Public Service Rules while the sum of N1.2 billion computed by the staff union for payment could not have been budgeted for in 2016.

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