Thursday, 28th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search

‘Paris Club, bailout funds judiciously utilised in Kogi’

By Ibrahim Obansa, Lokoja
02 November 2019   |   4:08 am
The organised Labour in Kogi State has insisted that the last Paris Club refund and the latest bailouts funds of N30.8billion obtained by the state government were judiciously utilised.

The organised Labour in Kogi State has insisted that the last Paris Club refund and the latest bailouts funds of N30.8billion obtained by the state government were judiciously utilised.

Labour, which disclosed this in a statement signed by the state Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr. Onuh Edoka, and his Trade Union Congress (TUC) counterpart, Mr. Ranti Ojo, and made available to newsmen in Lokoja, yesterday, said the funds were disbursed in accordance with provisions of the collective agreements between Labour and the state government, which prioritised payment of salaries and pensions above all other competing demands, adding: “As at today, the general position is that most workers have been paid up to October 2019 at state level.”

They, however, noted that local government staff, primary schools teachers and pensioners were still expecting their October 2019 salary and pension, saying: “We also wish to acknowledge the early payment of salary/pension in recent times. It is our hope that this gesture of prompt payment of salary will continue even after the November 16 governorship election.

“It is, however, important to remind the government that many workers still have arrears in their payment history due to issues arising from the screening, which threw them out of the workforce.

“We call on the governor, who granted clemency to some categories of workers, to urgently find a means of paying them the months that their salaries were withheld while they were sorting themselves out and updating their records.”

The Labour movement also declared Governor Yahaya Bello’s staff screening and verification exercise as necessary, despite bringing untold hardship on workers in its wake.

“After in-depth analysis of the entire process up till this moment, we also agree that many components of the Civil Service and Pensions Reforms undertaken by this administration were not only necessary, but also vitally important to the building of an efficient, effective and virile civil service.

The leadership of Labour, while acknowledging the improvement on the percentage payment to council staff, urge the governor to restore 100 per cent salaries payment to them. 

0 Comments