Kogi Workers beg President Buhari to send them relief materials

-Kogi workers have appealed to President Buhari to send them food and other relief materials to alleviate their suffering due to non-payment of salaries.

-They stressed that their situation is worst than the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

Kogi state governor Yahaya Bello

Kogi State workers have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to salvage their present hardship condition due to non-payment of salaries by sending them relief materials.

The workers, according to NAN made this appeal on Wednesday in Lokoja in a statement jointly issued by the state chapters of the NLC, TUC and the Joint Public Service Negotiating Council (JPSNC).

They appealed that Buhari should direct the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and other humanitarian agencies to supply them food and other relief materials, stressing that their families have been adversely affected as a result of 11 and 21 months salaries the state government owes them.

They appealed to the federal government to consider the condition of their children who had been sent out of schools because they could no longer pay their school fees.

“The situation of workers in the state is worse than the condition of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in various camps. The agony of the workers is not in any way less than the experiences of victims of natural disasters. A situation where workers cannot afford even one meal a day and pay the school fees of their children is already a humanitarian issue.

“As it stands today, over 30 per cent of the workforce is owed 21 months salaries. Twenty (20) per cent have unpaid salaries of between 11 and 18 months while about 45 per cent took their salaries up till June this year. These are the category of workers the Kogi State Government is forcing to embrace the ‘clock-in, clock-out’ work policy,” they lamented.

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The civil servants also begged the indigenes of the state at home and abroad to aid them in any manner they could.

Naija News gathered that Kogi State workers on September 22 embarked on an indefinite strike to make their demands known on payment of their salary arrears.

Kingsley Fanwo, a media aide to Governor Yahaya Bello, said the government had yet to enter into negotiation with labour over the demand because the signatories to the strike notice were unknown to government.

Fanwo condemned labour’s claim on non-payment of salary arrears, saying they wanted to misinform the public for selfish interests.

He however, urged workers to disregard the labour’s directive to go on strike but continue to go to work.