The Presidency has denied allegations that the December salaries of public servants might be delayed due to a shortfall in budgetary allocations.

The office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HOCSF) also denied the reports and urged civil servants to disregard the circular.

This response came in the wake of a circular purportedly issued by the federal Government advising police officers and federal civil servants to spend their November salaries wisely because their December salaries may be delayed till January 2022.

However, Malam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, who spoke to State House correspondents on Thursday in Abuja, dismissed the circular, saying President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration “takes the issue of payment of salaries more seriously’’.

According to him, the Buhari administration attaches great importance to the welfare of its workers, especially the payment of their wages.

“I have not been briefed about this issue but what I can tell you is that nobody takes the issue of payment of salaries more seriously than President Muhammadu Buhari.

“To give you an example, only two weeks ago or so, the National Economic Council announced that the President had approved this huge amount of money over N18 billion to each state of the federation to take care of outstanding pensions and salaries.

“So, logically speaking, if the President will help States to pay; he has done this many times, from 2015, he saw it as a national crisis.

He did this kind of support to States not less than three times before this one,” he stated.

Shehu added: “For the president, salary is so important that he is looking beyond the Federal and he is holding the hands of the States to join him in doing so, please, people should not be unnecessarily upset.’’

In the same vein, the office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HOCSF) also advised civil servants to disregard the circular.

Mr AbdulGaniyu Aminu, Director of Communications, Office of the HOCSF, gave the advice in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

The fake news has unfortunately been published in some newspapers and some social media platforms without verifying.

“For the avoidance of doubt, it must be stated that the office at no time issued any such circular in respect of salary, ” the communication director said.

He further said the said signatory to the circular, one Dr S. A. Adegoke was not a staff of the office of the HOCSF, as there was no record of such an officer in the HOCSF.

“It stands to reason, therefore, that those behind the so-called circular are just out to cause mischief by spreading false information for reasons best known to them.

“It bears restating, therefore, that the so-called circular is nothing but fake news and no such circular was written or emanated from the office,” he said.