The
issue of unpaid salaries in Kogi State calls for the declaration of
state of emergency. Aside the indisputable ‘award-winning’ salary debtor
in Osun state, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Kogi State governor is a
national leader when it comes to unpaid salaries and pensions. I agree
with the summation of a former Governor of Kogi State who described
Governor Yahaya Bello as a ‘Legend of unpaid salaries’.
Last week
was a week of vain hope in Kogi State. Wearied workers and retirees
hoped against hope. They encouraged one another that the state
government will pay them before end of last week. Last week came and
gone, no word from government.
The most worrisome is the fact
that labour leaders are nowhere to be found! Who will speak out on
behalf of the sad, burdened workers who still have to find their ways to
their respective offices whether they can afford it or not.
The
situation is so bad that we now have a notorious ‘I no get transport
fare’ junction at the state secretariat in Lokoja. Here, civil servants
wait under the sun and beg for lift. They also hang around here to beg
for a low as N200 to enable them meet domestic obligations.
For
the avoidance of doubt, the last time workers and pensioners got a dime
from the government was during the last Sallah celebrations in August.
precisely, August 16. Workers in tertiary institutions were paid April
2019 salary while some selected MDAs got May 2019 salaries. Omitted MDAs
got their after Sallah. These are civil servants who are fortunate to
be on GYB monthly salary schedule. So many who are not privileged are
owed between 12 and 31 months salary arrears. How they manage to go to
work every Monday-Friday since Yahaya Bello assumed office as governor
is the 8th wonder of the world.
After August, two different
monthly allocations have been received by the state government from the
federal account but no single worker was paid from these cash inflows!
It is worthy to note that no single project has been embarked upon
within this time frame, the few ongoing projects are stagnant. Where did
these allocations disappeared into? The only project embarked upon
within this time frame is the recently conducted All Progressives
Congress (APC) primaries.
The huge amount of money expended on
APC primaries in Kogi State shows that our government have more interest
in building personal political empires that see the state working as it
should through well motivated civil servants.
Workers are breaking
down and are inflicted with sickness like never before. I challenge
anyone to visit the public and private hospitals in Kogi state to
confirm this. My last visit to a public health centre in the state
capital brought me to tears. I was number 136 on the queue that day so I
had much time to watch sick people coming in and going out. You will
hear patients begging hospital officials that they don’t have money.
With unpaid salaries, workers are not eating fine, have to trek through
long distance instead of paying for Okada transport and most
aggravating is that workers are indulging in excessive thinking on how
to make ends meet, especially paying children school fees.
At the
moment, Kogi workers have no defender. Our former defender, Senator
Dino Melaye is now an endangered soul as assassins are watching his
every move. Our labour leaders are nowhere to be found. Workers are
crying silently, praying that we won’t any of our colleagues in these
trying times.
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