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Tag: unpaid salaries

  • Kwara council workers protest unpaid salaries

    Kwara council workers protest unpaid salaries

    •Govt to aid councils 

    Local government workers in Kwara State yesterday marched on the streets of Ilorin, the state capital, to protest their unpaid salary arrears.

    Led by leaders of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), the protesters took off from the local council offices before moving to other streets.

    They carried placards with various inscriptions and chanted solidarity songs.

    NULGE State Secretary Afolabi Abayomi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the protest was justifiable, and that it was holding simultaneously in the 16 councils.

    The government has promised to support councils towards settling salaries and pension arrears.

    Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed spoke at an interactive session with local government chairmen and NULGE leaders.

    He, however, said such assistance would  be on need  and as fiscal regulations.

    The governor directed each chairman  to review the council’s financial cases, and approach the commissioner for Finance.

    He urged the NULGE to address the issue based on the specific challenges in each council.

  • Bayelsa workers protest unpaid salaries

    Bayelsa workers protest unpaid salaries

    •Teachers, council workers demand salary arrears 

    Different categories of Bayelsa State workers yesterday protested their unpaid salaries in Yenagoa, the state capital.

    The first group comprised teachers under the aegis of the Association of Senior Secondary School Teachers (ASSST).

    They displayed placards with various inscriptions, such as “Governor, why do you hate teachers?” and “Governor, remove chairman.”

    The protesters took their protest to the Post-Primary School Education Board, demanding to see the board’s chairman.

    Bayelsa State workers have been undergoing hardship, following the inability of the government to pay their backlog of salaries.

    Workers in the only state-owned Niger Delta University (NDU), including lecturers, shut down the institution for over four months over unpaid salaries.

    The teachers, who chanted solidarity songs, said they had not been paid for over seven months.

    They described the Seriake Dickson administration as insensitive.

    One of the teachers, who identified himself simply as Jacob, said they were angry at the way the governor and his aides were handling their matter.

    He said: “We are out to register our displeasure over the manner the governor is administering his responsibilities. The education system has been paralysed from primary school to tertiary institution. This should not be the behaviour of a man who wants the success of the state.”

    The protest leader Dan Tarila said the teachers were disappointed by the way the Commissioner for Information, Mr. Jonathan Obuebite, and the chairman of the board handled the salary crisis.

    He said: “The Commissioner for Information and the chairman of post primary school board are insincere. The commissioner has failed us. He negotiated for Niger Delta University (NDU) and failed. He negotiated for every sector and failed. He has been promising teachers, but he failed us.”

    The angry teachers were later dismissed by their leader, following a promise that the government would pay them today.

    But they vowed to continue the demonstration, if the government failed to fulfil its promise.

    Also, workers of Yenagoa Local Government Area yesterday stormed the Ministry of Local Government, demanding the payment of their salaries.

    The workers, who were owed over eight months, sought audience with the Commissioner for Local Government, Agatha Goma, but were told that the she was not in her office.

    But having sighted the commissioner in her office, the angry workers were said to have started banging the gates and doors to her office.

    The commissioner’s attempts to call security operatives further infatuated the workers, who abused her.

    But the arrival of the caretaker committee chairmen of Southern Ijaw, Yenagoa and Ogbia local government areas saved the situation.

    Some representatives of the workers later met with the commissioner and the chairmen, who told them that their share of the bailout money was still in the bank.

    The workers gave the government till today to pay them or face their wrath.

     

  • TUC issues ultimatum to Oyo over unpaid salaries

    TUC issues ultimatum to Oyo over unpaid salaries

    •Union condemns govt, NLC deal

    oyo State Trade Union Congress (TUC) has issued a five-day ultimatum to the state government to “immediately offset” a backlog of eight months’ unpaid salaries to workers.

    Its Chairman, Comrade Andrew Emelieze, issued the warning in Ibadan following the expiration of the period offered to the government.

    The union, which described the alliance between the government and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) as unholy, emphasised that a recent deal signed to end the industrial deadlock was not a true reflection of the yearnings of the various unions.

    “We condemn in strong term the agreement between Oyo Government and NLC. It is totally condemned and vindictive. We shall not accept these conditions. It is a fraud and we will not be part of such agreement that is inimical to the future of workers.

    “An extra five days ultimatum will be given to the state government to pay all outstanding arrears with interest. The people should start preparing for a mass action to occupy the state secretariat on August 8, 2016, should the government refuse to meet our demands.

    “You will recall that the Oyo State Government and the NLC entered into an unholy alliance by signing a lactiferous and satanic agreement that is inimical to industrial harmony in the state. The agreement is illegal, illegitimate and unacceptable to the TUC.

    “We condemn it in strong term as we see the sophisticated and nonsensical resolution, which allows government to sack workers and reduce work-force. The agreement is baseless and callous; we reject it in all its form and entity. It is a product only good for the dust bin,” Emelieze said.

    He condemned the pronouncement by the state government to restructure the public service, which, the TUC leader claimed, is aimed at sacking workers.

    Similarly, Joint Negotiating Council (JNC) Chairman Comrade Emmanuel Ogundiran said there was a subsisting Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the government and the unions.

    But he noted that the leadership of the public service, the JNC, was not carried along in the agreement that was signed.

    “Our jurisdiction has been encroached. All stakeholders must come together to put an end to this shortcoming. Government should do the needful,” Ogundiran said.

     

     

  • Unpaid salaries: Edo LG workers beat HOS, treasurer

    There was pandemonium yesterday at the secretariat of Egor Local Government Area of Edo State after angry workers reportedly descended on the council’s Head of Service (HoS), Mr. Eseigbe Johnbull, and the treasurer to protest their more than one year unpaid salaries.

    The workers were said to have beaten the duo and other top management staff before chasing them away from the secretariat.

    It was gathered that the aggrieved workers had barred the duo and other top management staff from gaining entrance to their offices.

     A source who spoke with our reporter on condition of anonymity said that trouble started when the management staff attempted to forcefully gain entrance into their offices, leading to a scuffle among the workers.

    Secretary of the local government workers’ union, Mr. Humphrey Aighobahi, confirmed the incident in a telephone conversation with our correspondent, but disassociated the union from the act.

    “All I can tell you is that the incident is between the council staff and the management. The union has nothing to do with it,” he said.

  • Unpaid salaries: Ahmed faults SERAP’s petition on Kwara

    Unpaid salaries: Ahmed faults SERAP’s petition on Kwara

    The Kwara State governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, has faulted the decision of Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) to mention him in a petition to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged non-payment of workers’ salaries.

    SERAP had dragged some state governors to ICC for failing to workers’ salaries.

    The governor described SERAP’s action as ill informed and misdirected as well as an attempt to whip up sentiment on an issue of national concern.

    Alhaji Ahmed described SERAP’s petition as baseless and lacking a foundation in fact as Kwara State is up to date in the payment of salaries to state civil servants and pensioners.

    He stressed that SERAP may have been referring to the local government councils in the state, which receive separate allocations from the federal government and have varying degrees of staff and pension arrears.

    In a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communications, Dr. Muyideen Akorede, the governor said that despite experiencing a drop in monthly allocation from N3.2b to N800m, the state government sustained payment of its civil servants and pensioners through prudent management of resources and revenue reforms which have increased Internally Generated Revenue by more than 100 per cent in less than a year.

    The governor added that he is currently working with local government chairmen in the state to redress salary arrears at the tier of government through measures as the proposed takeover of Junior Secondary School funding by the state to reduce financial pressure on local governments.

    He, therefore, wondered “why SERAP will refer an issue involving contractual obligation between a government and its workers to the ICC which deals with criminal matters and settles legal disputes submitted to it by sovereign states.”

    The governor pointed out that while the said LG pension and salary delays are unfortunate and painful, the issue is reflective of the financial gridlock currently confronting the country and is neither intentional nor criminal in nature.

    The governor dismissed the petition as selective for failing to reflect the federal government’s position that 27 states are currently unable to pay workers. He also questioned the source of SERAP’s data, and emphasised that recent surveys by the state chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), respected national media organisations as well as reputable financial watchdogs in the country had given the state a clean bill of health with regards to payment of state workers and pensioners.

  • Abia worker commits suicide over unpaid salaries

    Abia worker commits suicide over unpaid salaries

    A civil servant with the Abia State Ministry of Lands and Survey has committed suicide by hanging.

    He was said to have taken his life because he had not been paid for over four months, coupled with his reported inability to feed his family and meet other financial obligations.

    The deceased, a father of four, was identified as simply as De Nwakwo.

    He is said to be in his early 50s.

    He was said to have committed suicide after dropping a note in his sitting room before his wife and his children returned from a church service.

    The man, who hailed from Ihe Ndume community in Umuahia North Local Government Area, had four children, two of who were said to be in primary schools while the others in secondary schools.

    A source close to the family and a community leader

    said the deceased often approached some people for foodstuffs and financial assistance.

    The source said that the wife earlier requested for some money from him to enable her buy uniform for the women in the church to wear for the Mother’s Day celebration.

    He said: “We believe that he hanged himself because of financial pressures from his wife, coupled with his inability to fulfil his obligations to his family, among other family problems.”

    The suicide note, which was sent to the Ehimiri Police Station, reads: “I have no other place to go; no hope, nothing to give to my children to eat and no salary for the past four months. I am sorry I have to do this.”

    The source said the community felt bad about the man’s death.

    He added that his body had been has been deposited at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Umuahia.

    But police spokesman Onyeke Udeviotu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said he was not aware of the incident.

    But he promised to contact the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of the station where the case was reported.

     

     

  • Oyo State workers issue 7-day ultimatum over unpaid salaries

    Organised labour in Oyo State has issued a 7-day ultimatum to Oyo State Government to settle over five months arrears of salaries owed workers.

    The ultimatum was issued on Tuesday in Ibadan by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Joint Negotiation Council (JNC).

    Mr Waheed Olojede, the State NLC Chairman, who spoke at a news conference, said that the 7-day ultimatum would commence on Wednesday, March 30 and lapse on Thursday, April 7.

    He said that the unions had considered the prevailing condition of workers and pensioners with five months unpaid salaries and the failure of government to accede to previous requests.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the government and the unions in 2015 signed a memorandum of understanding on how the salaries would be paid.

    Olojede said that the unions had written to the state government requesting for a meeting, which he claimed the government failed to accept.
    Olojede said that the situation had reduced workers to state of poverty, adding that their productivity, diligence and absolute commitment would be hinged on how the workers were treated.

    “If government fails to meet the leadership of the labour movement in the state, we may not be able to guarantee continued industrial peace beyond the stipulated time,” he said.

     

  • Unpaid workers shut down Bayelsa LG secretariats

    Unpaid workers shut down Bayelsa LG secretariats

    Some local government secretariats in Bayelsa State were Monday shut down by aggrieved workers who protested many months of unpaid salaries.

    The angry workers said they were dying of hunger because their local government chairmen owed them salaries between five to nine months.

    Workers in Sagbama and Nembe, the local government areas of Governor Seriake Dickson and his deputy, Rear Admiral John Jonah (retd), including those in Yenagoa were the worst hit.

    The workers under the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) barricaded the council secretariats and said the facilities would remain under lock and key until their salaries and allowances were paid.

    The remaining five councils of Ogbia, Brass, Kolokuma-Opokuma,  Ekeremor and Southern Ijaw  also owed their workers different arrears of salaries

    In Yenagoa, placard-bearing workers stormed the council’s secretariat at about 6am,  chanting songs to draw public attention to their plight.

    The workers held placards with messages such as “The chairman has not told us the problem; the political appointees have been paid up to date”, “We are owed for four months”, “NYSC workers have not got their allowances”, “Our chairman is a sadist”, “Internally generated revenues are in private account,  not in council treasury”, “Council workers are not slaves, they should be treated as human beings”.

    Speaking on the plight of workers, the Chairman, NULGE, Yenagoa LGA chapter, Mr. Oyoro Kwaka,  said the council has been owing them since October 2015.

    He asked the council chairman to disclose what how he spent the council’s allocation for November and December.

    He alleged that the alerts of revenue arising from the IGR of the council were usually received in private bank account instead of the council’s account.

    Oyoro said: “They are owing us October, November, December and January. Our children are at home; they have been sent back home from school because we cannot pay their school fees.

    “We did not have money for Christmas, for the first time in this local government, we could not afford to buy a grain of rice for Christmas, yet the politicians bought rice, cows, goats, wrappers and so many other things for themselves. Even now, the politicians have been paid up to date but they refuse to pay us our own salaries for four months.

    “Allocations have been coming. In our council, the revenue goes to the chairman’s personal account. The revenue unit has not alert, the chairman gets the alert if any money is paid to the council account. It is not done in any organization, this is a local govermment, the money collected from revenue should go to the local government account.

    “If he refuses to pay us we will not vacate this place, we have the backing of the security agencies and we have announced on the state radio that we are embarking on this protest.”

    But the Head of Local Government Administration, Yenagoa, Dr. Ovienadu Torutein, admitted that the council owed some categories of workers for three months and others for two months.

    He said: “Yes, we are owing some for three months and some for two months. The reason is that the allocation we receive from the Federal Government is not enough and it affects not only this local government but others.

    “We are even trying to meet up with payment of salaries more than other local government areas.

    “We have a salary wage bill of about N97million or thereabouts and if we add that of the politicians, it is about N108m and we receive less than that. On the average, we are receiving between N70m and N80 million after the statutory deductions.”

    He appealed to the workers to exercise patience, insisting that the council was working hard to ensure that their salaries were paid.

    But a NULGE official, who did not want his name in print, said the genesis of the indebtedness to workers began during the general elections.

    He said huge sums of money were deducted from workers’ salaries during the election that sacked former President Goodluck Jonathan.

    He said even during the governorship election, about N50m was deducted from the accounts of some council.

  • Osun APC condemns protest over unpaid salaries

    Osun APC condemns protest over unpaid salaries

    The All Progressives Congress(APC in  Osun State yesterday  condemned last Tuesday’s  protest by the  Civil Society Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun State at the National Assembly over unpaid salaries. The party described the action as irresponsible and lacking in common sense, because there was  no basis for it and  was ill-motivated.

    Party Chairman in the State,Prince  Gboyega Famodun, said in a statement in Osogbo that Osun, like many other states in the country is “doing all that is humanly possible to manage the crisis of economic downturn occasioned by a drop in oil prices worldwide.”

    He added: “Every knowledgeable person about the salary crisis in Osun can testify to the fact that Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has been open and transparent in his dealing with the workers, and there is on-going understanding between both parties to address the issue on the basis of whatever fund is available to the state, either from the Federal or internally generated funds.

    The peace and understanding that reign in Osun today is as a result of the pact between the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the government to address the salary issue on the basis of the earnings of the state government. Even the president of the NLC, Ayuba Wabba, in an interview on Monday, ?confirmed that ‘there is actually cooperation towards addressing the salary issue’, and he indicated further that ‘Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has been transparent in putting on the table whatever money comes in’.

    So in a situation where there is no rancour, it is most unbecoming for a group like the Coalition to go to Abuja and give a false impression about the crisis which does not exist. And to make matters worse on the basis of a non-existent crisis, the group went to Abuja to call on the National Assembly to intervene.”

     

  • Osun protesters storm National Assembly over unpaid salaries

    Osun protesters storm National Assembly over unpaid salaries

    •Group: they are hired goons

    Members of a group, Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun State (CSCOS), yesterday protested at the National Assembly the alleged failure of the Osun State government to pay the salaries of its workers.

    But another group, the Osun Civil Societies Coalition (OCSC), urged the National Assembly to ignore the protesters, who it called hired goons.

    CSCOS Chairman Adeniyi Suleiman told reporters that the group was in Abuja to expose goings-on in Osun State.

    The activist said members of the coalition were determined to sustain the protest to ensure that the right thing was done in the state.

    He said: “We are here based on the situation in Osun State. We are here to lodge our bitter complaint for the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives.

    “Osun State is now suffering because Governor Rauf Aregbesola …has refused to pay the salary of workers and the pension of pensioners, including their gratuities.

    “The people are not benefiting from the dividends of democracy in Osun State. That is why we are here to protest to the National Assembly through our petition.

    “We are calling on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to take action. We have a lot of evidence which are contained in our petitions to the EFCC and ICPC.

    “Aregbesola also …refused to use the (N34 billion bailout) money to pay the salaries of workers, retirees and pensioners.

    “All the projects he claimed to have executed are half done; he is only using propaganda to govern Osun State. That is why we are rejecting the government of Aregbesola.”

    Another member of the group, Bishop Seun Adeoye, added: “My chairman has said it all. We are saying the National Assembly should come and save us from the situation in Osun…”

    ‘No protest can diminish governor’s credibility’

    The Bureau of Communication and Strategy in the Office of the Governor yesterday said the protesters against Aregbesola were shameless individuals who had exhausted their wits in the alleged plot to set the state ablaze.

    A statement last night in Osogbo, the state capital, by the bureau’s director, Mr Semiu Okanlawon, noted that there were sufficient instances of good governance and financial prudence the Aregbesola administration had put in place that could help to tackle Nigeria’s complex challenges.

    The bureau said it was not surprised that after several months the group “had been boxed to a corner of irrelevance” it found another avenue to demonstrate its ignorance of public finance and the workings of governance in Osun State.

    The statement noted that one of the protesters’ suspected paymasters was summoned to Abuja on Monday on some allegations.

    It said: “We have no doubt in our minds that they have become butts of jokes and no one of repute listens to them again. When they started, they deceived some people into giving them audience, but since all they have presented against Aregbesola are no more than the same unsubstantiated hogwash they have been purveying, they have lost the confidence and audience of reasonable Nigerians.”

    The bureau asked rhetorically: “How could anyone accuse Aregbesola’s government of the debt profile this bunch of people parade for Osun?”