The national leadership of the
Nigeria Labour Congress has said
that 11 state governments have
not paid the December salaries to
their workers.
The organised labour called on its
chapters in Benue, Plateau and
Osun states to serve their
respective governments an
ultimatum within which to pay the
workers’ salary arrears of between
three and eight months or risk a
strike.
The President of the NLC, Mr.
Abdulwaheed Omar, who made the
comment in an ‘End of Year
Message,’ called on the workers to
vote against any politician who
failed to pay their salaries in the
2015 elections.
He said that any governor who was
not able to pay the salaries of
workers in his state had no
justification to receive his own
salaries too.
Omar said that some employees of
the Federal Government in the
Ministry of Labour and Productivity
were being owed between one to
three months’ salary areas.
He said, “Collated reports from our
state councils indicate that a
number of state governments and
some Federal MDAs have not paid
their workers for December as the
year comes to an end.
“Of the 30 states reporting as of
the 30th of December, 11 subjected
their workers to a Christmas/New
Year celebration without the
December salary.
“Three of these states, Benue,
Plateau and Osun, owed their
workers arrears of salaries ranging
from three to eight months. Some
Federal Government employees in
the ministries of Education, Labour
and Productivity, among others,
are owed arrears of salaries
ranging from one to three months.
“We condemn this insensitivity to
the welfare of workers. Any state
governor, who cannot pay workers
their salaries, as at when due, has
no moral justification for taking
his own salary and allowances.
“We call on workers to massively
reject these anti-worker politicians
in the 2015 elections. Meanwhile,
we direct our state NLC councils in
the three states mentioned above
to serve appropriate ultimatums on
their government to pay the
arrears of salaries or face
disruption of services.”
Omar warned the Federal
Government against imposition of
general austerity measures on the
citizenry, which he said could
further aggravate the suffering of
the ordinary worker.
He said that the most tenable way
to manage the current budget
under austerity was a drastic
reduction in the cost of governance
in the country.
He called for a cut in the
Presidential fleet, the cost of
running the State House, a
reduction in the number of aides
who add no value to governance
and political office holders in the
country.
Omar, who supported the decision
of the Federal Government to tax
the rich, advised against any move
to sack workers.
He added, “While we appreciate
the difficulties brought by the
collapse in oil prices, we caution
against the imposition of
unselective austerity measures.
Already, workers continue to bear
the brunt of the savage
devaluation of the Naira with a
possibility of collateral
consequences.
“We also strongly advise against
any consideration for
rationalisation of workforce. We
support the government initiative
to tax the rich through luxury
taxes. More importantly, we are
convinced that the surest way to
manage the budget under austerity
is to reduce the cost of
governance.
“Bloated prerequisites of political
office holders must be cut. The
prerequisites and comfort of
politicians need to reflect the
reality of the times. Mr. President
and the State House must lead in
this regard. The size of the
Presidential fleet, the cost of
running the State House and the
retinue of political jobbers can all
be reasonably cut without reducing
the effectiveness of the
Presidency.”
He also condemned what he
described as the imposition of
exploitative electricity tariff on the
citizenry, saying such a move
could culminate in an unpleasant
situation as indicated by the
protest against the move in some
of the cities across the country
such as Benin, Enugu,Oyo, Lagos and
Kano.
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