Worried by inability of Kogi State government to pay three months of workers’ salaries, organised labour in the state, comprising Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Trade Union Congress, TUC, and Joint Negotiating Council, JNC, have vowed to continue the ongoing industrial action indefinitely.
Chairman of NLC, Onuh John Edoka, who gave this directive yesterday, while addressing journalists in Lokoja, stated that despite the unions effort to ensure that government pays workers salaries before Christmas and New Year, the salaries were not paid.
Edoka explained that labour leaders in the state had met the Governor Idris Wada on two different occasions, but the meetings proved abortive.
He added that they met Governor Wada on December 23 last year when he promised that he would pay as the allocation arrived and at least he would pay a month’s salary before Christmas, noting that at the end of the day he did not fulfill the pledge.
Also on December 31, labour said they met with the governor and he told them the bank hijacked the allocation to settle outstanding facilities earlier granted to the state.
The NLC boss noted that all hopes of paying October 2015 salary before end of December as earlier promised by the governor were finally dashed, adding that there was no hope of any payment of salaries until the next administration takes over governance.
The labour leader also alleged that despite the inability to pay salary, the governor was still spending N78 million as traveling allowance in three days, asking “where is the Value Added Tax, VAT, for the month of October to December and what happened to non-oil differential allocation for October to December 2015.
He lamented that if Governor Wada had won election again workers in Kogi State would have suffered a lot, noting that from the failed promises of the governor, it becomes crystal clear that the propaganda of the state government that labour insisted on payment of two months salaries at once was an attempt to cover up government’s unwillingness to pay.
Credit: National Mirror
