Jigawa State’s civil servants have encouraged the Nigeria Labour Congress, or NLC, to set aside all of its demands and work to implement the N35,000 pay award in the state.
The recent deal signed between the Federal Government and NLC to halt the planned industrial action slated to begin on Tuesday caused some anxiety among the employees, who voiced their concerns.
The payment of a N35,000 wage award for six months to federal government employees is included in the agreement, and state NLC chapters have been instructed to guarantee that the same amount is fully implemented for state and local government employees.
In response to the instructions, Malam Aliyu, a public servant of Jigawa State, charged that the state chapters were allegedly dancing to the beat of the state governments.
“Now that NLC at the national level has played its part, it is up to state chapters to strive for and guarantee complete compliance without compromising.
According to him, “Federal, state, and local government employees were all impacted by the removal of the fuel subsidy in the same way, so there is no justification for state governments to reduce the said amount as the federal government has provided enough funding to state governments.”
Another staff member named Iliya criticised the state NLC for putting three requests on the state government rather than fighting to have the same wage award implemented for both state and local government employees.
“The NLC in Jigawa has lost its way and is irrational. Now is the time for states to stand up for workers’ rights, just as the labour union’s national body did with the FG. However, three demands have been made by NLC Jigawa, including soft loans, food palliatives, and transportation allowance.
He stated, “The NLC should base its negotiation with the state government on adopting what the FG implements. We don’t want any soft loans or palliatives.”
They pleaded with the state governor, Malam Umar Namadi, to adopt the aforementioned sum without haggling, taking into account the hardships that the employees of the state and local governments are currently experiencing.
