Tag: Delta

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa is believed to have pocketed trade union movements and the opposition in Delta State. Asaba-based public affairs analyst Ifeonu Okolo, writes about how this development has impacted negatively on the welfare of workers in the state. 

This is not the best of times for civil servants in Delta State, under the present administration of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa. For nine months, workers in the 25 local councils have been groaning over unpaid salaries. Teachers in the state are being owed three months salaries.

A council worker in Asaba who preferred to remain anonymous, said the situation is critical and that most civil servants are finding it difficult to meet up their financial obligations to their families and other dependants. He added that many are dying, because of lack of money to cater for themselves.

He said: “Yes, death is a necessary end, but one must not be made to die miserably as we are presently experiencing over unpaid salaries. We are starving. We have not been paid for several months. The National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) is not helping matters. They are not taking up our cause with the authorities. We are confused and don’t know who to run to.

“Our pains at the moment have to do with our salaries. We cannot be seen as happy workers who come to work without salaries for over eleven months now. We are no longer going to work. The councils have been closed down completely.”

All over the world, labour unions and opposition parties exist for the purpose of protecting the interest of workers and the generality of the people. But the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and opposition parties is believed to have abdicated their responsibilities for pecuniary gains. Right from the tenure of Chief James Ibori, when Ovuzerie Macaulay was NLC President, to the Emmanuel Uduaghan era, when Mike Okeme was in-charge, it is a common knowledge that they have often traded their positions for self gains.

It is instructive that Okeme is the present Special Adviser to Okowa on Labour and Allied Matters. As a result, nothing has changed in that regard; labour unions continue as an appendage of the government. While it is safe to say that under Macaulay, the interests of workers were protected to some extent, the same cannot be said about the Okeme era. Observers believe that it was during his tenure that unionism collapsed completely and became a springboard for appointment into positions in government; even when the latter were churning out anti-labour policies.

While Okeme no doubt used his position to secure political appointments starting from Uduaghan’s time, the tenure of the late David Ofonoyeno was more disastrous, because under his leadership, the local government workers whom he represented before becoming the NLC chairman were completely abandoned; as they groaned under the burden of about nine months salary arrears.

But under the present government, things have gone further downhill. For example, the government is no longer paying workers’ promotion arrears. In addition, several allowances payable under the past governments have been cancelled. Local government workers are currently being owed salary arrears of about nine months. Meanwhile, workers are facing all sorts of screening exercises, ranging from presentation of primary six certificates to verification of birth certificates.

It is also sad that workers no longer have access to their accumulated savings from the various cooperative societies, because the state government has been sitting on it. As things currently stand, workers are completely in the dark about what is happening to their money. Observers say government has probably not been remitting such savings, after being deducted from the salaries of workers.

With the slump in the earnings of the state, paying what now amounts to a loan from the cooperative societies has become a herculean task. The government has no doubt found itself in a tight corner. It amounts to breaking into the private saving vault of another man in a bank and removing his money, without his express permission.

This has worsened the plight of workers, because they can no longer borrow money or access their personal savings from the cooperative societies; due to the mortgaging of the cooperative societies by the government. Besides this, the government has abolished paying West African School Certificates (WASC) fees for secondary school students. In addition, parents now have to pay school fees for their children and wards in secondary schools.

All these are currently going on in Delta State without the labour union raising an eyebrow. The union has left workers at the mercy of the government of Dr. Okowa, with his anti-labour policies. In fact, there is a deafening silence among the workers over the wrong policies of the government. This is so much so that it looks as if the state is under the leadership of a monarch who is managing his private estate without any opposition from any quarter.

While the NLC no doubt can be safely described as dead, the opposition political parties in the state are equally not helping matters. It is as if opposition parties do exist at all. While the indolence of other political parties maybe understood, the worst of the parties is the All Progressives Congress (APC); members of the party have been busy fighting themselves since the advent of the Okowa administration.

Against the background of the tough financial situation of the country, Okowa does not believe that protests and sit-at-home actions by trade unions are good options in resolving trade disputes. Addressing the Board of Directors of the Delta State University Teaching Hospital (DELSUTH), Oghara, recently, the governor decried sit-at-home action otherwise known as strike as the best form of achieving desired results.

He said: “I want to condemn the issue of strike; whatever reason we intend to give, the issue of strike is not something someone in a health environment will embrace; when you are on strike lives are lost; when you are on strike, you receive salaries and anybody who is a Christian, know that it is not just right. Strike should not be the first point of call; strike is certainly not a solution at all.”

The governor said the worsening economic situation since June 2014, as a result of dwindling revenue from the oil sector, has had its tolls on several sectors and called for understanding of the workforce. He added: “We need to manage what we have and we should know that the best union leader is not the one that takes his members on strike whenever there is an issue, he is that leader who continuously engage in dialogue to the benefits of his members.”

Okowa had told the state House of Assembly at the outset of his administration that his administration inherited a huge debt profile running into several billions of naira from the previous administration led by Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan. He told Deltans that the Uduaghan administration left a debt of N637.22 billion and that it would be pretty difficult to meet the economic and social obligations to the people.

This is the grim picture painted then by Okowa: “It is obvious from available statistics that the state will run a monthly deficit of about N2 billion and would need to borrow to pay salaries of its workers, and finance the running cost of government. Prior to my assumption of office, the state government has been hard put to pay workers salaries.

“Ministries, departments and agencies of government have been running at half steam, due to the inability of the state to provide money for their operations. The staffs of most local governments in the state have been on strike due to non-payment of salaries. This is the dilemma that we face as we strive to deliver on our campaign promise of prosperity for all”.

The perceived misgovernance of the Okowa administration would have provided a perfect platform for the All Progressives Congress (APC) to launch itself into the minds of Deltans. But from the state executive to the local government level, the ruling party at the federal level is currently engrossed with in-fighting. The party is factionalised and members are engaged in a serious power struggle. The question therefore is: who will save the workers from the Okowa administration?

Delta is one of the states that have been governed by the PDP since the return to civil rule in 1999. Until the emergence of the APC, one can hardly speak of opposition in the state. Even at that, the last general election in the state was dominated by the ruling party. But with the defections that have taken place after last year’s elections, from other parties to the APC, indications are that the 2019 governorship election is not going to be business as usual for the ruling PDP.

Indeed, the defection of veteran governorship contestant, Great Ogboru and former Speaker of the Delta House of Assembly, Victor Ochei, to the APC in June generated a lot of interest.