Workers and pensioners in the civil service
of Oyo State will receive January and February 2016 arrears of salaries and
pensions within the next two weeks in a staggered arrangement.
While January salaries and pensions will be
paid immediately from the available N3.49bn in the state coffers, the February
salaries and pension will follow within the next two weeks on the receipt of
the next allocation from the Federation Account.
This was the highlight of the agreement
reached between the state government and labour leaders culminating in the
suspension of the over seven-week-old strike by the workforce, on Monday
evening.
The agreement was signed by the Secretary to
the State Government, Mr. Olalekan Alli; Head of Service, Mr. Soji Eniade;
Commissioner for Finance and Budget, Mr. Abimbola Adekanmbi, among others on
the side of the government.
The State Chairman of the Nigeria Labour
Congress, Comrade Waheed Olojede; State President of the Nigeria Union of Local
Government Employees, Comrade Bayo Titilola-Sodo; State Secretary of the
Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Comrade Olusegun Abatan, were among labour leaders
that endorsed the agreement.
The state government also agreed to prevail
on banks to grant workers with loan obligations a moratorium of two months on
their January and February salaries and pensions.
The agreement reads in part, “That the total
amount received from the Federation Account in the month of June was N2.1bn;
and additional N1.39bn, being the first tranche of the budget support facility
received from the Federal Government.
“This brings the total available sum to
N3.49bn in the government coffers that could immediately be utilized for payment
of salaries, wages and pensions of the state workforce for the month of
January.
“That salaries and pensions for two months be
paid within two weeks (of the agreement) on the receipt by the state of her
share of Federal allocation accordingly. That there would be the need for
sacrifice from both sides resulting in adjustments of the state’s obligations
and entitlements to various stakeholders in order to realize this payment.
“That the same principle will be applicable
to the payment of salary and pensions for February based on expectations that
the next allocation from the Federation Account and budget support facility
would be of the same value.”
The agreement also called for a formal letter
of apology from principals, teachers and pupils of secondary schools engaged in
the breach of peace and destruction of government properties, which the SSG
said had already been tendered to the government.
On its part, the government agreed to
withdraw all outstanding litigations against labour, while it was also mutually
resolved that no worker would be victimized for participating in the industrial
action.
The 14-member joint committee, inaugurated on
July 12 arising from the June 6 industrial action, also reached a consensus
that a further biometric audit of all public service workers and pensioners
across the state be carried out as expedient.
The government challenged labour to partner
it in seeking alternative sources of revenue to meet its obligations to the
workforce in the face of the dwindling allocations from the Federation Account,
as well as to plug leakages within the system.
Addressing journalists on the outcome of the
joint committee’s parley, the SSG called on the workers to consider the
suspended labour unrest a lesson for all on the imperativeness of dialogue to
resolve disagreements.
Alli said, “Labour has given its firm
assurance to work with government to further expand the revenue net of the
State.
“From the various lessons learnt in the
process of this industrial action, it is believed that with the transparency
and openness of government and the understanding of labour, a recurrence of the
situation would be avoided.”
The SSG called on the students, teachers and
school administrators to go back to school for immediate resumption of academic
works.
He made similar call on civil servants and
local government employees.
No comments:
Post a Comment