By Hon Alfa Tijani.
Several months of unpaid salaries in Kogi state has turned tragic as workers increasingly live in pathetic and inhuman conditions which ultimately lead them to what a source described as their early graves.
Reports from some of the affected Local Government Areas indicated that the affected workers are presently unable to cater for their family needs, including feeding and children’s education, among others.
From Igalamela to Idah, Ofu and Ibaji, among others, it is all tales of woes as the civil servants narrated their ordeals in the face of long period of unpaid wages.
A number of workers, according to my investigation, died because of high blood pressure or inability to pay for treatment of common ailments.
For instance, in Igalamela Local Government Area of Kogi State, two council staff reportedly collapsed and died while on duty over what their colleagues described as “tension from eleven months’ unpaid salaries. Their story is common across the state”
Also in Idah Local Government Area, the trend remains same, though on a higher magnitud. The leadership of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) disclosed that at least six of its members have died in circumstances related to the hard times faced over nonpayment of their salary.
It is similar tale in Igalamela Local Government Area where among others, an official of the Basic Education Staff Association of Nigeria (BESAN) died from an “untreated hypertension.”
