Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Kogi State, Comrade Onuh Edoka and his Trade Union Congress (TUC), counterpart, Comrade Ojo Ronti, have announced that there will be no May Day workers’ celebration in the state tomorrow, May 1st because of the fact that state government is owing most workers 14 month salaries.
In a statement in Lokoja, the union leaders emphasized that there is no reason to celebrate “as workers and pensioners have been experiencing hardship in the past 14 months due to the non-payment of salaries and pensions.”
They said that the non-payment of salaries to a large number of workers and pensioners have destroyed the civil service and the workforce, even as they expressed dissatisfaction with the non-release of the report of the staff screening review and appeal committee to the union to study and come up with its observations and position.
They faulted the claims by some government aides on social media that all workers have been paid their salaries.
The NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, had, last week, lamented Governor Yahaya Bello’s treatment of workers, saying: “it is interesting to note that Kogi tops the chart of non-salary paying states with 15 months backlog in spite of warehousing for the government of Yahaya Bello the first bail-out fund and the second bail-out.
“Salaries and pensions constitute fundamental human rights of workers and pensioners and nothing should be done to threaten these or else the lives of workers, pensioners and their families are put in jeopardy.”
He advised the governor to pay up outstanding salaries, pensions and negotiate with striking workers in tertiary institutions without any further delay. [myad]
