The Kogi government says it is ready to pay one month out of
the three months salary arrears it owes workers in the state.
This, he said, would depend on the organised labour ‘s
acceptance of the offer.
Mr Jacob Edih , the Special Adviser on Media and Strategy to
Gov. Idris Wada made this known while speaking with
newsmen on Friday in Lokoja,
Edih described salary situation in the state and labour’s
stance over the matter as "quite regrettable,’’ adding that it
was not the wish of government to owe the workers.
He said government had explained the state’s financial
position to labour leaders at a meeting on Dec. 31, 2015 that it
could only pay one out of the three months salary arrears it
owed the workers.
The spokesman added that government’s position was based
on available funds in its coffers.
READ: Idris Wada presents Kogi state's 2016 budget »
Labour, according to him, left the meeting with a promise that
they will get back to government after due consultations.
"The next time we heard from them was at a news conference
where they made heinous allegations against the government.
"They are making it look like the money is there and the
governor is not paying.
"Nobody is happy with the state of affairs on the issue of non-
payment of salaries. This is a man who has been paying
salaries, why would he suddenly change now,’’ he queried.
Edih said the allegation that Wada stopped paying workers
salaries as a "pay back’’ because the workers made him to
lose the governorship election was "uncharitable,
preposterous and outlandish’’.
He said it was not fair for labour to reason that way.
The spokesman said government’s doors were still open for
dialogue and urged labour to call off their strike to enable the
payment of one month salary from available funds.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the organised
labour in the state on Tuesday directed workers to continue
with the indefinite strike embarked upon since Dec. 23, 2015.
Labour accused government of being unwilling to pay the
salary arrears.
Mr Onuh Edoka , Chairman of NLC in the state had said after a
meeting between government and labour in December that it
was clear that all hope of getting even a month’s salary was
dashed.
"Governor Wada claimed that the December, 2015 allocation
that came into the state was hijacked by the banks to settle
outstanding facilities earlier granted the state.
"He also claimed that no bank is ready to offer him any
facilities to augment what is available now.
“For the first time since 1999 when democracy returned to our
country, Kogi workers celebrated Christmas in hunger even as
the state government collected three consecutive Federal
Allocations from October, 2015 without paying any salary”, he
said.
0 comments :
Post a Comment