The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has urged the Cross River State Government to commence the full implementation of the Thirty Thousand Naira (₦30,000.00) minimum wage for civil servants in the state.
The NLC has also charged the state governor, Senator Bassey Otu, to commence the payment of gratuities owed to retired workers since 2013 to date.
The Chairman of the NLC in Cross River State, southern Nigeria, Comrade Gregory Olayi, gave the charge in Calabar while interacting with some journalists in Calabar, the state capital.
Olayi, who delivered a speech titled “Tackling the Crises of Survival and Mounting Destitution in the Land,” described the non-payment of gratuities to retired civil servants as unfortunate and a source of serious concern.
He lamented the inability of previous administrations, beginning with the Senator Liyel Imoke-led government and ending with that of the immediate past governor, Senator Ben Ayade, to pay people who served the state for 35 years.
According to the NLC State Chairman, most of the retirees since 2013 have been living in squalor, some scrambling to pay medical bills and purchase medications, while others have died as a result of a lack of money to offset medical treatment and starvation.
He stated, “We urged the state government to rise to the occasion. We are, therefore, requesting the state governor, Senator Bassey Otu, to do the needful by paying the minimum wage.
“From the table we have, the Cross River State Government is yet to implement the minimum wage. We acknowledged that the state government has paid palliative money but has yet to pay the minimum wage,” he stressed.
Implement promotion
The NLC also highlighted the non-implementation of promotions in the Cross River State Civil Service from 2015 to date, noting that civil servants have been on a particular level and step in the past ten years, a situation that was depressing for workers across the state.
Olayi stated, “In the last 9 years, the state government has failed to pay or implement promotions, especially for local government workers. We will not hesitate to call out our members to the streets should the state government fail to harken to our plea.”
He further urged the state government to fish out and lay off all those who have concluded their service years or reached retirement age but are colluding with some unscrupulous officials to defraud the state of resources.
He noted that these groups of people not only defraud the state government but also truncate the elevation of others still in service for their selfish interests and those of their cronies.
Government’s pledge
Meanwhile, the Cross River State Government has pledged to address issues raised by Labour and solicited the assistance of the NLC to weed out fraudulent ‘workers’ within the system.
The deputy governor of Cross River State, Mr Peter Odey, while addressing protesting members of the NLC on Tuesday in Calabar, said that the Governor Bassey Otu-led administration was committed to reviving the civil service system to its pre-2015 era.
According to Peter Odey, “the government has conducted several verification exercises aimed at sanitising the State Civil Service for optimum performance. Despite the fact that thousands of civil servants have retired, we have uncovered several anomalies, which have left this government with a bloated wage bill.”
The deputy governor acknowledged, “We know that the present minimum wage for workers is not enough considering the level of inflation in the country. Prices of goods are high, and salaries ought to go up too. That is why, as a government, we have made sure that the ₦10,000 palliative is paid to every civil servant.
“We also made sure that the N5,000 Christmas bonus was paid to all civil servants in the state. We have gone ahead to pay WAEC fees for Cross River students. We have done that as a government and will continue to do more,” he added.
