The National President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr. Ayuba Wabba, on Monday met with the Osun State governor, Rauf Aregbesola, on the crisis brewing between the workers and the state government over unpaid salaries.
Wabba led labour leaders in the state to meet with the governor at the Governor’s Office.
Journalists were barred from covering the meeting which lasted for about five hours.
There has been misgivings from workers about the delay in the payment of outstanding salaries despite the fact that the state had received N34.988bn bailout from the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The NLC president, who briefed newsmen after the meeting, stated the two parties agreed that the bailout would be used to pay workers’ salaries and pensions.
He said, “We agreed that the bailout will be deployed to pay the liability of outstanding salaries and pensions. It was agreed that the salaries will be paid in the next few days.”
Also, Aregbesola in a statement, made available by his media aide, Semiu Okanlawon, after the meeting, assured the workers that the bailout would be used to pay their salaries and pensions.
The statement. reads in part: “We are using the opportunity to assure the entire workers in the state that all arrears of salary and pensions will be paid from the bailout as the reason for which it was received. And this is why the government has ensured that the verification exercise is concluded and the actual figure of workers is determined for the purpose of payment.
“It is therefore pertinent for workers themselves to ensure effective conclusion of this process in order to ensure that they reap the fruits of their labour and prevent the criminal and dubious activities of those who reap where they do not sow.
“Therefore, we must agree that civil service reforms are absolutely critical at this stage in the life of our dear state. There is a need for the engagement of all critical segments of leadership of government and labour for the necessary actions that will make the service effective, efficient and economic.
“If our state, and by all means, the entire South-West region will become ficially and materially viable, a wholesome review of what works and what does not must be carried out and implemented with considerable alacrity and efficiency.”
But while the NLC was meeting with Aregbesola, lecturers under the aegis of Council of Academic Staff Unions of Osun State Owned Tertiary Institutions had stormed the Osun State House of Assembly to protest the non-payment of their salaries for the past eight months.
The lecturers, who had been on strike for the past three months, were led by their leaders, including the Chairman, Lasisi Jimoh; Secretary, Olusegun Lana; and the Public Relations Officer, Dotun Omisore.
The lecturers carried placards with various inscriptions such as ‘Save our Souls’, ‘Enough is Enough’, ‘Pay our Salaries’ and ‘We Reject Half Salaries’. They also sang anti-government songs.
They rejected the plan of the state government to pay them half salaries, saying they would not submit themselves for fresh screening directed by the government.
The lecturers stated the plan of the state government to pay workers half salaries was shocking because the state had received its share of the bailout.
They presented the letter, which was jointly signed by Jimoh, Lana, Omisore, Chairman, COEASU, College of Education, Ila-Orangun, Segun Onifade and the COEASU Chairman, College of Education, Ilesa, Oladele Ojo, to the House leadership.
The Chief Whip of the House of Assembly, Folorunsho Bamisayemi, while addressing the protesters, appealed to them to exercise patience, saying efforts were on to ensure their demands were met.
However, the Speaker, Mr. Najeem Salam, after spending some minutes with the protesters walked out on them. This infuriated the protesters and they poured invectives on the Speaker.
The secretary of the council, who spoke with our correspondent, stated lecturers had been on strike for the past months without government seeking to negotiate with them.
Lana said, “We came to the House of Assembly to submit a ‘Save Our Souls’ letter. The protest went well until the Speaker walked out on us.
“The state government has not been remitting pension deductions from our salaries to our Pension Fund Administrators. This is against the law. The deductions are supposed to be remitted seven days after salaries are paid, but this is not happening.”
Lana also stated that the institutions were understaffed and the few lecturers were overburden despite not being paid for many months.