The Bauchi State Chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress, has given the Bauchi State Government seven days ultimatum to resolve what it calls “all the problems on pending workers issues and other entitlements in the state”.
The NLC had threatened that the union may take a line of action that will not guarantee industrial harmony in the state if the State government fails to comply with its demand.
Comrade Danjuma Saleh, the State Chairman of the NLC, gave the ultimatum on Monday, during a press conference, held at the Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Teachers in Bauchi.
Danjuma said that the union after a meeting of the State Administrative Council(SAC) of the Nigeria Labour Congress in the state, the council resolved to draw the attention of the government to the myriads of complaints received by the state council on the indiscriminate payment of workers monthly salaries, removal of large number of workers from the payroll, cutting of huge portion of some categories of staff allowances for the months of June and July 2020, especially those in the health sector.
Danjuma said repeated pleas to restore the salaries of those affected fell on deaf ears.
He said authorities in Bauchi State have been acting on the pretense of payroll cleansing to shortchange workers.
The labour leader said the union will not tolerate what he described as an attempt to retrench workers in the state.
The Chairman said that it is mind boggling that workers from some important MDAs such as the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Bauchi Radio Corporation (BRC), Specialist Hospital, Hospital Management Board, Ministry of Environment, State Primary Health Care Development Agency, House of Assembly were denied June and July 2020 salaries while 42 staff from Toro Local government Authorities and 74 PHC staff from Bogoro were denied April 2020 salaries.
“It is painful and mind upsetting when government are distributing palliative across the country to cushion the effect of COVID-19 pandemic, but on the other hand, people are denied their legitimate earnings and salaries in the state”
Alhaji Umaru Sanda Adamu, the Bauchi State Commissioner for Finance, denied the allegations, saying, some salaries were not paid because there were several fraudulent activities that the administration was trying to address.
“Some people have been benefitting from these fraudulent acts and would want to see it end. We will not for once deny any worker his or her legitimate salary without any reduction. Whosoever is collecting salary illegally are the ones complaining and we are trying to block such leakages,” he said.
He denied the allegation that the state government was trying to reduce the number of workers in the state, instead pointing out that the administration has embarked on sanitizing the payroll and nominal roll of government which has identified certain anomalies.
