FG, Senate, Labour parley over unpaid salary arrears

THE leadership of the Senate and the House of Representatives, on Monday, met with representatives of the Federal Government to fashion out ways of resolving the unpaid salary arrears of workers, running into billions of Naira.

Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki,  alongside the Speaker,  House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, met with the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige and the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, behind closed doors, to find ways of addressing the issue of huge salary arrears owed federal workers by the government.

President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Ayuba Wabba, who was also at the meeting, said Labour had identified fresh challenges to the new minimum wage.

He listed the challenges to include the task of amending existing laws as well as that of budgetary provision.

Sources at the meeting said Saraki, who presided over the meeting along Dogara, was said to have urged stakeholders to brainstorm on how to arrive at a sustainable solution to the problems.

Ngige, briefing newsmen after the meeting, said the major obstacle was that government lacked sufficient funds to pay the arrears.

“One of the cardinal issues of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) is to give our workers decent jobs and we decided to discuss with them.

“It’s a tripartite negotiations. What we are doing here is tripartite plus because we have involved the National Assembly and when you do any such negotiations, it is plus.

“We looked at the issues of salary arrears, promotion arrears, debt benefits, location expenses and transfer allowances, which, over time, have accumulated and had ran into billions.

“So, we make progress today and we have adjourned to reconvene tomorrow at 4.00 p.m.; all sides are to come back tomorrow with possible solution to the identified issues which is that government doesn’t have enough fund for now to tackle the issues. So tomorrow, we meet here and sort it out,” he said.

Wabba, in his comment, said “we have discussed issues bothering on arrears of allowances which have accumulated for some time and running into billions and which they have not paid.

“Alongside is the issue of pension, particularly the issue of bonds and the fact that some of the contributions by workers have not been remitted for some time.

“Those are some of the issues that we thought the National Assembly has led the process to bring all stakeholders on board and look at how they can be resolved in a win-win situation without allowing the industrial relation process to break up.”