The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Workers salary

  • Okorocha suspends AG over delay of workers’ salary

    IMO State governor, Rochas Okorocha has announced the suspension of the Accountant General of the state, Mrs. Stella Udogwu, over the nonpayment of workers’ salaries for the month of November.

    The governor also ordered for the arrest of the branch managers of Ecobank and Access Bank for the non-payment of the November salaries of the local government workers in the state.

    The suspension of the accountant- general was with immediate effect. A statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, stated that, “the governor had before now directed that the October and November salaries of workers in the state workforce should be paid at the same time in October. And the governor had believed that the directive was carried out accordingly, only to be told by the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, when he attended the event to mark the 40th anniversary of the union at the Hero’s Square Owerri on November 30, 2018, that the workers had not been paid the November salary.

    Read also: Imo APC crisis irreconcilable, says Okorocha

    “The governor who was shocked to learn of the development , announced the immediate suspension of the accountant-general and ordered for the arrest of the Branch-Managers of Ecobank and Access Bank said to be where the money for the salaries of the Local Government employees for the months of October and November were lodged. “The governor therefore ordered that the November and December salaries should now be paid on December 3, 2018, since December 1st and 2nd are not working days, and equally announced N10,000 each for the workers as their Christmas bonus and N2.5m as car allowance for each of the local government directors of administration and general services. “The governor also announced that hence forth, there won’t be any need for any local government worker to try to convert to the ministry to be able to get to level 17 or become a Permanent Secretary”.

  • Osun Govt settles debts to workers with N19.6b

    •Four months’ salaries, pensions arrears, others covered

    The Osun State government has disbursed N19.8? billion for payment of salaries and pensions to its workers.

    The Commissioner for Finance Mr Bola Oyebamiji said the money covers August full salary, backlog of the salaries and the pensions for September to December 2015? as well as leave bonuses.

    Oyebamiji said Governor Rauf Aregbesola gave the payment directive after consultation with Labour unions and other stakeholders.

    The commissioner broke the news yesterday while addressing reporters at the Ministry of Finance in Osogbo, the state capital.

    He said the payment would be from the N16.6 billion latest Paris Club refunds from the Federal Government.

    Oyebamiji said the state added additional N3 billion from other sources to the Paris Club refunds to ensure the payment.

    According to him, this is not the first time the Aregbesola administration was committing lump sums from the Federal Government to pay salaries and pensions.

    The commissioner recalled that in November 2016, the government received N11.4 billion Paris Club refunds and disbursed N13.6 billion the following month ?to pay active and passive workers’ salaries, pensions, leave bonuses and other emoluments, with N8.5 billion covering September to December 2016 salaries.

    He also said N924 million was paid in 2016 as leave bonus for September to December, adding that from the same Paris Club refund, N2.5 billion was paid to cover pensions for September to December of the same year.

    Oyebamiji added: “?Again, in July 2017, the government received N6.3 billion as the second tranche of Paris Club refund and paid N6 billion as salaries, pensions and leave bonuses. The breakdown is as follows: N3.76 billion as workers’ salaries, N504 million as leave bonuses, N791 million as pension and N935 million as salaries in the local governments.

    “Since the commencement of the Aregbesola administration in November 2010, salaries, pensions and workers emoluments had taken not less than 80 per cent of the total revenue of the state. Indeed, a sizeable portion of the state’s debt was incurred on salaries.

    “When the administration came, monthly workers’ salary was N1.4 billion while pension was N200 million. However, with the increase of minimum wage from N9,000 to N19,000 and hiking of monthly pensions to N500 million, monthly salaries and pensions rose to N3.6 billion.

    “Though there was a steady increase in revenue till the late 2013, however, by 2014, oil price commenced a steady decline, dropping to as low as $22 in 2015 from the height of more than $100 in 2013.”

  • Fed Govt to begin payment of workers’ salary, promotion arrears next week

    Fed Govt to begin payment of workers’ salary, promotion arrears next week

    THE Federal Government is to begin payment of salary, promotion arrears and other entitlements of civil servants on Wednesday.

        It was aimed at averting further strike.

    This was part of the four-point agreement reached between the government and the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria to avert the proposed strike action by the union.

    However, while the government said the union has agreed to temporarily suspend the strike till Wednesday, its President, Bobboi Kaigama, said the union was only being proactive.

    He declared that if the government fails to begin payment on Wednesday, the strike action will begin.

    A communique signed at the end of the meeting by the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Labour, Bolaji Adebiyi and Kaigama said a seven-man committee is to be set up to monitor the implementation of the agreement.

    The communique reads: “Following the seven-day ultimatum dated September 8, 2017 issued by the Association of Senior Civil Servant of Nigeria on the issue of non-payment of salary arrears and other entitlements of public servants, especially promotion arrears, failing which the association propose to embark on an industrial action effective from Monday, September 18, 2017, the Minister of Labour and Employment convened a conciliatory meeting on Tuesday, September 12, 2017.

    “Present at this meeting were all the 40 Chapter Chairmen of ASCSN branches and their secretariat led by the President of ASCSN/TUC, Bobboi Bala Kaigama, after an extensive deliberation on the issue of public servants unpaid promotion arrears and other entitlements.

    “At the end of the meeting, it was greed that government will do all that is needed to ensure the commencement of payment of promotion arrears on or before Wednesday September 20, 2017.”

    The meeting also agreed that a seven-man committee to be chaired by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment composed of three members from the association and three from government side to midwife, fine-tune and monitor the implementation of these decisions.

     Addressing the union before the beginning of the meeting, Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, restated the unflinching commitment of the Buhari administration to the welfare of workers.

  • APC to Dickson: Pay attention to workers’ welfare

    APC to Dickson: Pay attention to workers’ welfare

    Members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) under the aegis of the Integrity Group (IG), Saturday, asked the Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Seriake Dickson, to pay attention to the welfare of workers in the state.

    The party members told Dickson to demonstrate the fear of God in line with the objectives of the recently-concluded November 2 state’s Thanksgiving Day by reverting to the payment of full salaries.

    The Leader of the state’s Integrity Group, Mr. Christopher Abarowei in a statement titled, Singing in a Strange Land, lamented the plight of civil servants and other categories of government workers saying they were suffering untold hardship.

    Abarowei noted that the inability of the government to pay full salaries in Bayelsa considered as a civil service state, increased the level of hunger and poverty in the state.

    He said: “We are all on the same page irrespective of party affiliations with all of us praising and thanking God for sparing us as a people. But the governor should with all honesty look deep into the plight of our people.

    “Bayelsa is purely a civil service state. The governor should meet up with his obligation of paying their salaries in full as and when due as we cannot continue singing the Lord’s song in a strange land.

    “Bayelsans are hungry and many people have withdrawn their children from school. Many businesses have closed down because money is no longer circulating in the state”.

    While explaining that showing appreciation to God was a welcome development, Abarowei, however, insisted that it was ungodly to treat workers in the state with ignominy.

    He said: “We want to remind Governor Seriake Dickson of his promise to revert to full payment of salaries as soon as the allocation coming into the state improves. Has the allocation improved? If the allocation has improved, why are the workers still paid half salaries?”

    Abarowei further faulted the scriptural memory verse of Psalm 35:4 adopted by the governor for the year’s thanksgiving day.

    “The memory verse says, ‘let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul. Let them be turned back and brought to confusion that device my hurt’.

    “Nobody in Bayelsa will pray for the downfall of a fellow Bayelsan as God is not an author of confusion and it is expedient to note here that God said a labourer is worthy if his or her wages.

    “The governor should pay the civil servants their salaries without much ado to make them say a resounding amen to his prayers”, he said.