Yesterday, Serving and retired public servants in
many states were still awaiting payment of their salary
arrears/gratuities, four days after the release of
N243.7billion to them of the second tranche of the Paris Club refund.
Some state governors are understood to
be treading carefully to avoid a repeat of their confrontation with
retirees and workers over the last disbursement.
They are opening the account books for
labour leaders and other representatives to have an input in the
spending pattern of the money, having realized that the allocations will
not be enough to clear the accumulated salaries, gratuities, pensions
and other entitlements.
Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State
who got N4.7 billion as the state’s share has invited leaders of the
Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC),Joint
Negotiating Council (JNC), Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) to discuss
the disbursement of the cash.
Also expected at the meeting are the
Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) and the National
Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE).
Ahead of the talks, the governor’s media
aide, Lere Olayinka, said the refund of N4.7 billion is N3 billion
short of the total wage bill of state civil servants, local government
workers and pensioners.
But the All Progressives Congress (APC)
in the state disagreed. It branded the planned meeting as “a worn-out
tactic to fraudulently deny workers their salaries and con Ekiti people
for selfish motives.”
“We are aware that after collecting the
money, he has started calling another round of meetings brainwashing
workers that N4.7b Paris Club refund will not be enough to pay one month
salary barely a month after he confessed that the actual Ekiti monthly
wage bill is N1.7b and several months after he consistently lied that
the state’s wage bill was N2.6b,” APC Publicity Secretary, Taiwo
Olatunbosun said.
“Since the Paris Club and bailout
issues became major sources of the state finances, Fayose is no longer
talking about the state’s monthly statutory allocations of N1.9b and
another monthly N1.3b Budget Support Facility he has taken for 11 months
but which he diverted to purposes through which he can make personal
gains.”
However, Fayose’s Chief Press Secretary,
Idowu Adelusi, described the allegation by the APC as mischief taken
too far. He said the APC was blinded by partisan politics and argued
that Fayose was the first governor in the country to go public with the
state’s share of the fund.
Abia State Finance Commissioner, Obinna
Oriaku, admitted that the N5.715 billion received by the state is not
enough to clear all the salary arrears as promised by Governor Okezie
Ikpeazu.
Oriaku said Abia was expecting between N12 and N13 billion
which the governor had ordered to be committed to the clearing of
accumulated salaries.
The State Chairman of the Nigeria Labour
Congress (NLC), Uchenna Obigwe, said the N5.715 billion won’t “go far”
and appealed to the federal government to “release more money to Abia
State.
“If Abia gets about N20-N25 billion, I
think that everybody will be okay in Abia State. All pension and arrears
of gratuities would have been a thing of the past. You know that over
15 years gratuities have not been paid in Abia. So, you can see that it
is enormous,” he said.
Obigwe said labour leaders in the state
will meet the government to “determine how many months of salary that
money can cover in paying the workers.”
Civil servants in Ondo however, said
that they were still waiting to be alerted by the banks about payment
of their salaries. A government source said payment would commence next
week.
Ondo state got a refund of
N7,003,648,314,28b. Of the sum, 32.68 per cent will be allocated to the
local councils while the state government will retain 67.32 per cent as
its own share.
Seventy-five per cent of the state’s share will be
spent on salaries and pensions and the balance of 25 per cent will be
expended on capital projects.
The Cross River State government is yet
to release the modalities for paying the workers which was one of the
highlights of the agreement it reached with labour leaders to end the
recent strike in the state.
The state chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, John Ushie, expects government to live up to its promise. He told The Nation that he expected government to use the money for workers’ salaries.
Finance Commissioner, Asuquo Ekpenyong
Jr., did not specify when workers will be paid.
He simply said as soon
as possible. The non-utilization of the N11.3 billion first tranche of
the refunds by the state government was partly responsible for the last
workers’ strike.
In Enugu, government has set up a
committee to ensure ‘proper utilization’ of the state’s refund.
The
committee comprises representatives of the Nigerian Union of Local
Government Employees (NULGE), Association of Local Governments of
Nigeria (ALGON), the NLC and other stakeholders.
Chairman of the state council of the
Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Virginia Nwobodo, expressed optimism that
workers would get a fair deal.
“In Enugu we have no fears as far as Paris Club refund is concerned,” he said.
The Oyo State government yesterday
confirmed receipt of a N7.9 billion refund.
Finance Commissioner,
Abimbola Adekanmbi, disclosed that a minimum of 60 per cent of the sum
would be used to clear salary and pension arrears. He said payment would
commence “as soon as possible.”
According to him, the state received the
third tranche on Monday July 17.
On the application protocol, the
commissioner explained that over 60 per cent of the first tranche of
N7.2 billion was used for salaries and pensions, 100 per cent of the
second tranche of N5 billion was used for the same purpose, a decision
he said was above the 50 per cent minimum prescribed by the Federal
Government.
The leadership of the Nigeria Labour
Congress (NLC) in Oyo State had on Thursday appealed to Governor Abiola
Ajimobi to use 100 per cent of the latest refund for salaries and
pension arrears.
The NLC chairman, Waheed Olojede, told The Nation
yesterday that workers were expecting 100 per cent of the N7.9 billion
refund to the state to be used for workers and pensioners’ unpaid
arrears. Civil servants in the state are being owed for the months of
April, May and June 2017.
“We have written a letter to the
government demanding clearance of all outstanding salaries and pensions.
We want the governor to fulfill his reported promise during Ramadan to
use 100 per cent of the refund for salaries and pensions,” he said.
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