The Nasarawa State Government has paid December salaries to civil servants in the state, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
A NAN correspondent reports that most banking halls and ATM machines in Lafia were filled with customers, mainly the workers were busy making withdrawals for the Christmas shopping.
The banks visited included Diamond, Unity, Union, Access, Zenith and UBA.
Most banks located along Jos road in the metropolis witnessed traffic hold ups as most civil servants made efforts to be on time to withdraw money for the long break declared by the Federal Government.
NAN also reports that the payment of salaries also came 48 hours after Gov. Tanko Al-Makura declared that the state received N8.4 billion from the federal government as part of the Paris club returns.
Mr Joseph Emma, a civil servant in the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, expressed happiness over the unprecedented development of getting his salary ahead of the Christmas period.
Emma said that the payment of the salary would go a long way in assisting workers meet up with some of their domestic needs during the yuletide.
However, Mr Ibrahim Mohammed of the Ministry of Health, cautioned civil servants not to spend all their salaries and remember to pay the school fees of their wards as schools would resume immediately after the New Year break.
When contacted, the Special Assistant to Al-Makura on Media and Publicity, Malam Ahmed Tukur, said the payment of salaries was done in good faith to assist civil servants to celebrate the festivity joyfully.
He restated the commitment of the state government to continue to give top most priority to the welfare of civil servants and other citizens of the state. (NAN)