The Federal Government on Monday assured workers that payment of December salaries would take effect soon as it began processing it since Friday.

Mr Paul Nwabuikwu, spokesman to the Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala gave the assurance in a statement.

“The processing of the December salaries started on Friday and is continuing today. Civil servants should therefore get the salaries in their accounts shortly.

“Also being processed are the salaries of the staff of 14 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) where there has been a misuse of the salary budgets to pay promotion arrears and other allowances,’’ the statement said .

It said that IPPIS system, which was programmed to reject irregular procedures, had locked the MDAs in question out of the system.

“ This led to the unfortunate delays,’’ it added.

According to the statement, action has been taken to rectify the problem and the salary arrears of the staff of the affected MDAs would be paid along with those of their colleagues in other agencies.

It noted that the IPPIS system was set up to ensure the smooth running of payment processes to prevent delays, adding that prompt salary payment was important to the Federal Government.

It urged all MDAs to desist from irregular actions which hampered the operation of the IPPIS system, leading to payment delays and suffering for civil servants.