Emmanuel Adeyemi, Lokoja
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called on Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State to pay workers salaries in the state, saying “we are dying of hunger.”
Speaking at an occasion marking 2018 Workers Day, the NLC chairman, Onuh Edoka, who spoke on behalf of organised labour, said it was painful that many workers are still been owed salaries, ranging from six to sixteen months; adding that those mostly affected are local government workers.
The NLC leader said labour decided this year’s Workers Day in the state would be muted “because our people are passing through excruciating hunger and pains and we don’t have the energy to celebrate the day as it ought to [be celebrated].”
Labour also chided the state government for its habit of breaking agreements reached with it, as it urged Governor Bello to urgently address the plight of workers in the central state.
Labour condemned the farmers/herders clashes going on in parts of the state, and urged the state government to tackle the issue of unemployment and insecurity which it said have thrown the state into uncertainty.
Deputy Governor Simon Achuba, representing the governor, admitted with labour about the plight of workers due to unpaid salaries, and promised that the Bello administration would do more to assuage their suffering.
The state meanwhile called on the Federal Government to complete the Ajaokuta steel project in order to create jobs for the teeming numbers on unemployed youths in the state.