The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Kogi State council on Thursday, said workers in the state have been turned to street beggers following the non-payment of their salaries by the state government.
The state chairman of NLC, Onuh Edoka, while speaking at the 7th Quadrennial delegates conference in Lokoja, said many workers were finding it difficult to feed their families as they were being owed between seven and 30 months salary.
He said worst hit by the problem of non-payment of salary are the local government workers that are being paid “ridiculous percentage” salary for several years.
Edoka, however, urged the state government to reverse this negative trend, lamenting that the situation had made it impossible for them to meet their obligations to their dependants.
Apart from this, the chairman added that workers are being owed their leave bonuses, while promotion carried out by the government are not being cash backed, saying that such promotions only existed on papers.
On the state pensioners, Edoka noted that despite the fact that these retirees do not collect their Pensions regularly, some of them are not placed on pension months and in some cases over one year after retirement.
Edoka, however, called on the Federal Government to release the balance of N30.8 billion bailout fund to enable the government to defray the salary arrears owed to workers in the state.
The state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, pledged to use the balance of the bailout fund for payment of salaries only, when released by the federal government.
Bello, who spoke through his Chief of Staff (COS), Edward Onoja, also promised to continue to prioritise the welfare of workers in the state.
The governor, however, commended the workers for their support to his administration in the trying period, saying the screening exercise, though painful, has recorded positive results as unintended beneficiaries had been eliminated from payrolls of the state.
He listed other achievements of his administration to include: improved security of lives and property, saying that kidnapping and other Violent crimes have been reduced to the barest minimum.
Highlights of the occasion was the election of officials to run the affairs of the union for the next four years.
Comrade Onuh Edoka and his team were returned unopposed for another four-year term of office, even as the workers passed a vote of confidence on them for purposeful leadership.