The Trade Union Congress has issued a warning to the Federal Government, requesting that it immediately pay all federal public servants their agreed-upon wage award of ₦35,000. The meeting was held in response to the fuel subsidy elimination.
The caution was issued by TUC President Festus Osifo on Tuesday in Abuja at an ongoing press conference that followed the emergency National Executive Council meeting of the congress.
The Congress explicitly said that only a small number of workers had received their second payment, and that it was on solid knowledge that they had only gotten a one-month payment intended for September.
In order to prevent a new crisis in the nation, Osifo also sent a warning to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and all 36 state governors, advising them to “tighten their belt in assuaging the plight of workers” caused by the loss of fuel subsidies.
Osifo said, “On the issue of the wage award, it is on record that the payment has been made just once for September, but as it is now, our members in the federal civil service have not been paid the ₦35,000 wage award since October. “We wish to call on the government to fastrack all the payments now. We learnt that they’re putting some things in place to ensure the payment, but people are not ready to listen to excuses.
“We demand that they immediately pay this ₦35,000 wage award to the bank accounts of the federal civil servants without excuses.
“We want the government to tighten their belts, governments at all levels – the Federal Government, the state and local governments because a situation where they are asking Nigerians to keep tightening their belt and they (government officials) are living in affluence is not acceptable.”
More details soon…
