Workers Day Celebration In Nasarawa:Gov Al-Makura In Mournful Mood

Rabiu Omaku

Acusses organized labour of habouring ghost workers

Nasarawa state Governor,Umaru Tanko Al-Makura said he lost confidence on the Nigerian Labour Congress for the strike action they embarked on in February this year,the Governor stated this during this year’s workers day celebration held at Lafia square.

Al-Makura expressed displeasure over the strike which he said brought untold hardship to the state, as the civil servants are the engine room,”If i reflect back on the strike embarked by organized labour it makes me to be ashamed of myself.

Saying the State Government paid bailout full as well was the first to implement the N18,900,the black garment signifies a mournful period for people that workers that died in the hospital.

Governor Al-Makura also accused the organized labour of causing industrial disharmony ,he in addition said the NLC in Nasarawa state is operating as a parallel Government promoting antagonism .

“What can we do to take this country out of the doldrums, supposed to be the nagging question, NLC should ask,he added.

Al-Makura also accused the Nigeria Labour Congress of presenting a list of ghost workers, even after the conduct of bio-metric and data capture exercise in the state,stating that the organized labour has shot themselves in the leg.

” Why should my state suffers strike action in spite of what I have done for workers, Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura disclosed that the federal grant accrued to the state was not just for the 30,000 civil servants as against the non-working class of 2.9m indigents.

Do we exist just as a state to pay workers’ salaries only ?  The Governor tasked NLC to support the state Government in getting rid of ghost workers still existing in the state civil service .

The state chairman of NLC comrade Abdullahi Adeka in his speech called on the State Government to explore ways of diversifying the economy through agriculture but not thinking of reviewing down the salary of workers.

Adeka opined that the strike embarked upon by the organized labour was not aimed at tarnishing the image of the state Government,he hinted.

The state chairman of Trade Union Congress (TUC) Danladi Sabo Namo affirmed that workers has lost hope on those at the helms of affairs due to decades of rape of the state and national treasury by the privileged ones in the corridor of power,Namo listed some of the preponderances of civil servants in the state to include absence of welfare package,poor healthcare facilities,lack of training and retraining of civil servants,trauma in payment of salary.

Other huddles faced by workers are the use of obsolete tools,high rate of casual workers,poor educational facilities,lack of promotion and annual increment,lack of motivation,queue in filling stations,Boko Haram insurgency,poor infrastructures,impunity ,killings in Agatu by Fulani herdsmen.

“A former Governor in the state accused the organized labour of forming a parallel Government because we challenged him of unfruitful policies which lead to the closure of institutions which earned him not returning for second term”.

Namo also challenged the state Government over the implementation of N18,900 minimum wage,saying N18,900 is no longer new minimum wage following the decision of NLC at the national level seeking for the upward review of N56,000 minimum wage.

” N18,900 is equivalent to $59.06, an amount that cannot buy one week food for a Governor’s dog, said Danladi Sabo Namo

Governor Al-Makura while speaking on the ongoing strike embarked by the Academic Staff Union of University,Nasarawa State University chapter said no lecturer was owned single penny as an outstanding allowances or salary.

” In some states lecturers were owned over two months salary but they did not go on strike”saying the state Government succeeded in paying N60m out of the N80m .