Twenty four hours to the celebration of Sallah, workers in Kogi State and the state government were at loggerheads as the workers rejected the decision of government to pay them 50 percent of their July salary.
The workers said the proposal of the state government was unacceptable despite the sacrifices they had made in the last 19 months of the present administration.
It was gathered that the state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, had on Tuesday night met with the leadership of the organised labour where the proposal was tabled before the workers.
The Governor was said to have told the workers that the fund available in purse of government could not pay the full salaries of the workers and that of the political appointees.
Bello was also said to have explained that the monthly federal allocation to the state had dwindled with the state receiving N1.7 billion last month.
According to him, the wage bill of the state stood at N2.7 billion after the staff verification exercise embarked upon by the government last year.
However, the workers, led by the state chairman of the Nigerian Labour Congress, Onuh Edoka, and his Trade Union Congress counterpart, Ranti Ojo, were said to have told the governor that they would meet their members and communicate their decision to him.
The meeting of the workers on Wednesday was said to have tensed as the workers unanimously and vehemently rejected the half salary proposal.
Sources at the meeting told us that many of the workers argued that the wage bill at inception of the present administration was put at N2.7 billion, wondering why the figure remained the same after removing over 10,000 names from the payroll after the staff verification.
Speaking on the issue, Edoka said the workers had met and had rejected the offer to pay half salary to them.
According to him, such offer had been made in the past with the organised labour rejecting the proposal, adding that the position of labour had not changed.
Credit: Tribune
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