The Trade Union Congress (TUC), Ogun State chapter, has appealed to Governor Ibikunle Amosun to pay civil servants and retirees.
Its Chairman, Olubunmi Fajobi, said the plights of civil servants and retirees in Ogun State have assumed a worrisome dimension with some of them dying earlier than expected.
Fajobi, who addressed reporters yesterday at the Ibara, Abeokuta Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), urged Amosun to pay the 11 months’ cooperative deductions and benefits the government owed workers and retirees.
He said majority of civil servants were now living under extreme poverty, adding that the “unpaid gratuities of retirees since October 2012 till date is taking a huge toll on their wellbeing”.
The TUC chairman called on well-meaning indigenes of Ogun State to join the TUC in appealing to the governor to pay the arrears of deductions owed the workers and gratuities of the retirees.
Fajobi said: “The Trade Union Congress’ State Executive Council-in-session in its meeting held today, observed that the prevailing abject conditions of public workers in the state have assumed a worrisome dimension.
“It neither requires critical appraisal nor scientific academic research to discern the stark reality of extreme poverty majority of active Ogun State workers have found themselves and the retired senior citizens of the state.
“With the increasing harvests of deaths and untold miseries being experienced in the two camps mentioned above, the council-in-session, therefore, passionately appeal to the government to without delay, resume the payment of gratuities, suspended since October 2012.
“The government should also consider the release of fund for the payment of 11 months’ balance of workers’ salaries – that is, deductions made from workers’ earnings (May, July, October, November and December 2015, and January to July 2016).”