​Ondo workers protest nonpayment of salaries

Workers in Ondo State on Tuesday took to the streets of Akure to protest the non-payment of salaries for July and August.

They also demanded the payment of their monthly deductions from their salaries since May this year.

The workers besieged the premises of the Office of the Account General as early as 7.30am to make their demands.

Led by Sunday Adeleye and Sola Ekundayo, the Chairmen of the Joint Negotiating Council and the Trade Union Congress respectively, the workers brandished placards, chanted solidarity songs and blocked the road in front of the Government House for hours before proceeding to the governor’s office.

Some of the placards had inscriptions such as “Ondo State, where is our bail-out money?” “Accountant General, Ajibokun Must Go” “Government Must Not Divert Bail-out Fund; Bail-out is for Workers’ Salaries,” among others.

Addressing the workers, the JNC chairman said workers had shown much understanding with the government, but the understanding was taken for foolishness.

He said the union had disagreed with the government’s attempt to divide the workers by paying core civil servants and leaving others, saying that all workers must be paid their outstanding salaries.

He said the workers were tired of shifting blames on the issue between the Commissioner for Finance, Yele Ogundipe and the Accountant General, Frederick Ajibokun.

“We are tired of blame shifting game. The Finance Commissioner said the fault is from the AG the AG said it is the Access Bank, we do not want excuse again,” Mr. Adeleye said.

“The bail-out money is for payment of salaries and allowances of workers. We are aware that government had collected this money, what is still delaying it over ten days after it was collected.”

Also, the TUC Chairman decried the move by the government to pay only core civil servants of about 10,000 workers, which is less than a fifth of the entire workers in the state.

He said as a result of non-payment of the salaries, children of workers could not resume schools, while the workers had the load of unpaid and the sick could not get treatment.

Mr. Ekundayo added that workers had lost confidence in the government of the state due to the situation.

But the Head of Service, Toyin Akinkuotu, said the governor, Olusegun Mimiko, Accountant General, and the Commissioner for Finance had met in Abuja and a directive was given for the payment of May and June deductions and the payment of categories of workers that had completed the mop up of workers’ verification exercise.

According to him, if payments were done without the conclusion of the exercise, it would render the workers verification meaningless.

Mr. Akinkuotu urged the workers to be patient with the government, assuring that the government understood their plight.