Kogi Workers Resume Strike over Unpaid Salaries 

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Kogi Workers Resume Strike over Unpaid Salaries 

By Correspondent

 Workers in Kogi State said on Monday in Lokoja that they would resume strike to impress upon the state government the need to pay them outstanding five-month salary arrears. This is contained in a communiqué issued by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Joint Negotiating Council (JNC) at the end of an emergency meeting. The communiqué was jointly signed by Mr Onuh Edoka, the state NLC Chairman; Mr Ojo Ranti Matthew, Chairman of TUC and Mr Aaron Akeji, the Chairman of JNC. The communiqué stated that the state government had reneged on previous promises to pay the salary arrears. It also condemned in strong terms the payment of salary in bits; stressing that salaries for the months of October and November 2015 were paid three months after each salary was due. The communiqué also decried the exclusion of workers employed between January and December 2015 from receiving the November 2015 salaries. It urged the state government to pay all those affected because they worked for the money. According to the communiqué, “The state government is claiming that the employment of the concerned workers was irregular since there was an embargo on employment in the state.’’ In a swift reaction, Mr Kingsley Fanwo, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Yahaya Bello, said it would be inappropriate and unfair for the workers to blame the government for the failure of the past administrations. Fanwo said Bello’s administration was able to offset two months’ salary arrears within his 57 days in office. “Labour was on an indefinite strike before the inauguration of the present administration, but the governor intervened to settle the industrial dispute,” he said. He said the governor would undertake a holistic appraisal of the situation after the ongoing screening exercise with a view to addressing the salary issue once and for all.

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