After many months of despair, Oyo State workers can now heave a sigh of relief following the commencement ofpayment of salary arrears owed civil servants by the state government and the renewed assurance from Governor Abiola Ajimobi on prompt payment of salaries. OSEHEYE OKWUOFU reports.
For many, the failure of the Oyo State government to pay workers’ salaries is both unjust and insensitive to the plight of workers. An average civil servant felt depraved and unfairly treated, even in the wake of fresh screening exercise of workers when they were still being owed four months’ salary arrears.
They believed the governor had misspent state resources on electioneering campaigns and bogus contracts for projects spread across the state. But it goes beyond that.
Before workers’ salaries accumulated, civil servants in the state had received their salaries on or before the end of each month. States began owing their workers when the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan slashed allocations to states by over 50 per cent; an action which the government attributed to the sudden and unexpected fall in oil revenue.
As a result, about 27 state governors were caught in the web; failing to pay their civil servants. Some states owed their workers up to 10 months. Till date, Oyo State government owes its workers salaries for April, May, June and July.
The workers converse in their offices, sharing their bitter experiences in the wake of the harsh economic condition occasioned by non-payment of salaries. Some find it extremely hard to make their way to the secretariat, while others relate their inability to feed and pay their children’s school fees and so on.
“We cannot but express our gratitude to God for seeing us through all these weeks and months of hardship. We cannot say all that we have been going through these months to keep body and soul together.
“But we are glad that eventually the government is now prepared to pay the arrears. Many of us have been evicted from our houses, many school children could not sit for examinations due to the inability of their parents to pay school fees. This is because the government could not pay salaries.
“So, you can see why an average worker in the state will be happy on knowing that the government will begin payment of three months salaries to them. Yes, it is true that prompt payment of salary is our right, but is there any sanction provided in the Constitution against any employer of labour who fails to pay workers their salaries?
This is where the problem lies. Until we have a law that forbids any employer of labour from owing workers salaries, workers will continue to suffer,” one of the workers who didn’t want his name in print for security reasons said.
However, the dark, long tunnel ended with hope and promises. The workers’ morale came alive once again. And excitement filled the air with renewed vigour.
Just last week, workers received salary payment alerts for the month of March. This resulted from consultations between the government and leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
Commenting on the development, the chairman Oyo State chapter of NLC, Mr Waheed Olojede said the exercise would begin with the payment of March salary to workers in the mainstream on grade levels 13 and above.
According to him, salaries of members of staff of local government areas who had already collected their March and April salaries are not included.
“With the sustained consultation of labour union with the Oyo State Government over the weekend, it is now clear that payment of the balance of March salary to workers in the mainstream of public service on grade level 13 and above, pensions and subventions to the judiciary and state higher institutions will commence with immediate effect,” Olojede said.
The development was cheering for the workers. The payment elicited wild excitement among them, some of who rushed hastily to their banks.
One of the workers, who pleaded anonymity, described the commencement of the salary payment as long overdue, even as he expressed his happiness over the ability of government to offset backlog of salary arrears.
But just as the workers’ nightmare seems to abate, the government, last week, issued a new circular requiring all civil servants to be screened before they will be certified for payment.
The verification exercise, which was carried out from one ministry to the other, according to the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr Ismail Alli, is to ensure that there is orderliness in the civil service.
“The aim of the screening exercise”, he further explained, “was not to witch-hunt anybody but to have a dependable data base and consolidate government’s record to know who are on ground and ensure their positions. That is why we are doing it where they resume duties every day.
“Secondly, we want to know whether people have acquired the right qualifications over the years. So, it’s just to ensure that people are in the right places. There is no interior motive behind it,” he said.
However, the labour union has cautioned against any attempt by the government to use the ongoing screening exercise to victimise or witch-hunt any civil servant, adding that such development or action will be vigorously resisted by the entire labour movement in the state.
