The Organised Labour in Kogi
State on Wednesday said that workers would determine the next governor of the
state come November 2.
The Chairman of the Nigeria
Labour Congress (NAN) in the state, Mr Onu Edoka, stated this at the 2019
Workers’ Day (May Day) celebration at the Confluence Stadium, Lokoja.
According to him, if only the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would make their votes count,
workers would decide the next governor of the state on Nov.2, NAN reports.
“Workers have the power to
determine the next governor of the state and would prove it in the state
governorship election slated for November 2, if only the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) would make our votes count.”
He, therefore, urged Gov. Yahaya
Bello to clear up the arrears of salaries owed workers in the state within the
shortest possible time.
“If you pay our salaries, leave
bonuses and implement our promotions, we assure you that we shall stand by
you,” he said.
Edoka maintained his stance that
the state government owed its workers between seven and 30 months salaries.
He urged the government to stop
propaganda and face the reality to ascertain the actual indebtedness of the
state to its workers.
The labour leader, however, urged
the government to clear up the arrears of salary and implement the new National
Minimum Wage, adding that government should do everything possible to prevent
workers from taking to the street.
Edoka also decried the position
of pensioners in the state and appealed to the state government to look into
their plight and save them from the precarious situations.
He noted that some of them, whose
names were removed from the payroll never found their way back while lucky few
whose names came back lost many months.
The labour chairman urged
government to embark on massive recruitment of staff into the state civil
service, saying there were too few junior level workers, more so that retired
public officers were being brought in to occupy positions.
“It will be very dangerous for
the state government to continue this way where retired people are made to
occupy positions meant for serving civil servants,” he said.
He called on President Muhammadu
Buhari to release N30.8 billion, being the balance of the bailout to Kogi,
saying that outside of the N50.8 billion former Gov. Idris Wada applied for,
N20 billion was released to Gov. Bello.
Edoka said Bello paid four months
arrears with the release and urged President Buhari to release the balance of
N30.8 billion for government to settle more arrears.
In his response, Gov. Bello said
that the state government would not pretend there were no unresolved issues,
but utmost on his agenda presently was how to finally settle unpaid salaries to
genuine workers.
Bello, who was represented by the
Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mrs Folashade Ayoade-Arike, however,
contended that the state government owed its workers only five months salary.
He maintained that the last
salary paid was that of November 2018.
He said that genuine workers had
earlier been cleared, while those in other categories and possibly being owed
were those cleared later by the screening committee, adding that it all depends
on when they were cleared.
On the N30,000 new National
Minimum Wage, the governor said that government would meet with labour leaders
and decide on a workable modalities to adopt for its implementation.
He noted that payment of
teachers’ salaries was now on first line charge.
“We are going to key into the new
National Minimum Wage.
“Leadership of the Organised
Labour in the state have been consistent in partnering with us and we will
always be straight forward with them,” he said.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com