(Lokoja)
Workers on the payroll of the Kogi state government say they will not accept salary reduction by the state government.
This is moreso, especially in the case of local government workforce and primary schools.
The Chairman of the Kogi State chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Onu Edoka, made this known while addressing newsmen in Lokoja during May Day celebration.
“The union will not accept salary reduction, especially at the local government and primary school levels,” Edoka stressed.
Duaglobalnews reports that this year’s theme of the Workers’ Day is: “60 Years of Nationhood: Insecurity, Wage, Poverty and the Future of Work in Nigeria.”
Edoka, who noted the workers had challenge at hand over the April 2020 salary for which the union was dialoguing with the state government, expressed the hope the hope that they would not be shortchanged under any form.
According to him, apart from the payment of salaries, the entire Kogi civil servants were looking up to Governor Yahya Bello to consider payment of their 30 per cent balance from August to December 2017 salaries and other arrears.
According to him, kogi workers also yearn for annual increments, promotion cash-backing and leave bonuses, all of which were last implemented about eight years ago.
Edoka added:”Above all, is the immediate implementation of the N30,000 (New Minimum Wage) approved for all workers since April last year by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
“On behalf of the entire Kogi State civil service, I hereby express our sincere and heart-felt appreciation to our amiable Governor for setting up the minimum wage committee.
“However, the duration allotted to the committee has since elapsed.
“We therefore use this medium to call on the Dr Mrs. Folashade Arike Ayoade-led 17-man committee to expedite action on its assignment.
“Issues emanating from the screening still persist. There are still several civil servants whose careers have been truncated as a result of this exercise.
“I am not talking of those whose actions or inactions have been proved to be inimical to the growth of the state.They must be duly punished.”
He urged the state government to look into case of workers with genuine cases, especially at the local government and primary school levels, noting that ” their only means of livelihood has been denied as a result of minor infractions.”
