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, Lagos
and Kano.
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