Nigeria Suffers Tensity Rise Because Of Unpaid Salaries
It is not a secret that stability in countries all over the world partly depends on fair salaries on time. Nowadays the country suffers from rising tension because there are a lot of incidents when workers don't get their money.
Media sources fixed a lot of examples of it.
1. Osun
Workers in the employ of Osun State government have begun to lament the non-payment of about six months salaries being owed them by Governor Rauf Aregbesola-led administration.
“It has been very difficult to survive without salary for months. We cannot even afford to pay the school fees of children in private schools, while we also trek to the office sometimes,” said a civil servant in one of the ministries at the state secretariat, Abeere.
The workers agreed to boycott the activities to mark the 2015 workers day celebrations. Francis Adetunji, the factional Chairman of the Trade Union Congress, said: "No May Day celebration this year. That is the decision of the entire workers in Osun State. We cannot be celebrating when workers have not been paid a dime since the beginning of the year.The last salary we were paid was part-payment of November salary. Since then, we have not collected any salary. We will not celebrate the May Day because our salaries are not paid."
2. Pletau
Government workers in Plateau state have given the state government seven days to pay workers outstanding salaries and address other pending issues.
Civil servants seldom come to work and from all indications their morale is low as they could no longer cope with the ordeal of reporting to work on empty stomachs.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a security man said: “The situation is terrible, we just have to work because of the sensitive nature of our work, otherwise you wouldn’t have seen me here. The few workers you see within the secretariat are those living around here, who trek to see what is happening and leave anytime they want. If it means borrowing, the outgoing administration should do that to alleviate our suffering”.
3. Kogi
Workers in the state of Kogi have to tighten their belts. The state government told it cuts their salary nearly in half – by 40 per cent.
This measure is the cause of the decreasing federal allocation, with N1.2 billion reducing from March to April. The state received the sum of N3.7 billion from federal budget in March, while in April it got only N2.5 billion, while the monthly wage bill is N3.2 billion.
According to the latest information Kogi State chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has given the state government 24 hours to rescind its plan to reduce salaries of civil servants or risk strike.
The state NLC Vice Chairman, Alhaji Suleman Abdullahi said: "The decision by the state government to pay 100 per cent to officers on grade level 1-6 while those on seven and above will be paid 60 per cent will never be acceptable to the labour union. Workers in the state were not invited for discussion on how to go about the alleged short fall in the monthly allocation to the state before the decision was taken".
Kogi State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has called on the state governor, Idris Wada to pay their entitlements or face industrial action. The state NUT chairman, Suleiman Abdullahi, who spoke in Lokoja at the weekend, decried what he called government's insensitivity to the plight of teachers. He said many teachers had died due to hardship caused by non-payment of salaries and that even those alive were living in abject poverty.
4. Kaduna
Casual workers of the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company on Friday besieged the campaign's headquarters, demanding unpaid salaries and allowances.
The workers also asked that they be given priority during the forthcoming recruitment exercise. The protest led to a traffic gridlock along the Ahmadu Bello way and Mogadishu layout areas.
It also should be noted that Muhammadu Buhari, has been urged to slash salaries and allowances of members of the National Assembly.
Olisa Agbakoba said members of the Senate and House of Representatives did not follow the law in fixing their salaries and allowances.
He said: "The most important place that the president-elect can demonstrate his integrity is the National Assembly, by stopping the stupendous amount of money they receive as salaries and allowances. Their present salaries, as it stands, equal about 25 per cent of Nigerian budget, yet they are only 469. If General Buhari does not succeed in that, he would have challenges. The first test that his anti-corruption programme would have is to bring the salaries and emoluments of the National Assembly within the purview of the law set by the National Revenue, Fiscal and Mobilization Commission".
Comrade Ayuba Wabba, President of Nigeria Labour Congress urged workers in the country to protest non-payment of salaries and pension arrears.
He said:"If they fail to pay, workers in such states should down tools and protest to the governors until all outstanding salaries are paid. If the incoming government becomes worse than the outgoing government, there will be more strikes but if it is better, then there will be less strikes. The new government has promised us change and we want to see positive changes in all ramifications".
Source: Legit.ng
