By Taofik Nurudeen
Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara, has promised to clear the four months backlog of salaries, allowances and pension arrears before the end of his tenure on May 29th, 2023.
The Governor made the pledge at an event to celebrate workers day which held in Gusau, saying that he had acknowledged the hardship being faced by the workers in the state.
Matawalle, who was represented by the State’s Head of Service, Alhaji Kabiru Gayari said workers in the state had demonstrated sense of maturity for continued patient despite the challenges.
The Governor said, his administration is committed towards settling the backlog of arrears of workers, pensioners salaries and allowances before May 29th, 2023.
“We have started implementing the N30,000 minimum wage but something happened that disrupted our attention, making us not to fully implement the minimum wage”
In his remarks, the State Chairman of Trade Union Congress (TUC), Saidu Mudi, said that the civil servants in the State were not happy with the State government as it neglected the agreement signed with the two centers.
Mudi said government failed woefully in the area of workers rights and social economic justice, adding that workers were the life wire of government in any society.
“Workers rights were sets of principles as clearly defined by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the United Nations whose aim is to guarantee fairness, healthy and equitable working conditions for employees by setting forth the International Labour standard”, he said.
“While the socio-economic justice involves the provision of equal opportunities to all categories of workers and to ensure that each receives incentives and wages commensurate with their task and levels”
He further said that despite all efforts made by the two labour centers in the state, but regrettably the issue has not yet been resolved, pointing out that the amount paid to a cross section of civil servants were inconsistent and above all salaries were not paid based on table as salary printout was prepared since November 2022.
He said that workers salaries and allowances were no longer paid by grade levels as the government chooses to pay what it likes to the civil servants in the State.
Mudi maintained that another disturbing issue was unpaid workers salaries and allowances in the past two months, saying that March and April salaries and allowances were not paid by the state’s ministry of Finance despite the fact that the state has received its share of the federal allocations.
“Regrettably, the Zamfara State civil servants have experienced their worst moments within these two months because the entire Muslim Ummah across the world observed fasting of the holy month of Ramadan and Idel- fitir Sallah celebration but Zamfara State workers were subjected to all kinds of hardships.
“Many of us were not able to provide clothing for our families as a result of the non payment of salaries and allowances during the Sallah period.
“In fact, many could not pay utility or medical bills talk less of medical bills of their families which indeed is very unfortunate”
The State TUC boss however, lamented over the problems associated with pension and gratuities of the pensioners which he said the organized Labour forces were being disturbed and running out of patience, saying that they were not happy with the way and manner the State government is handling the issue of pension and gratuities in the State.
Also speaking, the State chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr. Sani Haliru appealed to the government to stabilize the blueprint of approved and constitutional right of workers, stressing that, that will no doubt reduce the pains and hardships during the critical economic impetus.
According to him, it was disheartening that the State government heavily depends on monthly allocations and grants from the federation account despite abundant resources in the State that need to be positively utilized to move the state forward and promote infrastructural development that could improve the internally generated revenues.
“To this end, I implore the State government to improvise other means of generating income for betterment of the State,” he said.
