Peter Dada, Akure
Striking civil servants in Ondo State on
Thursday blocked the main gate to Government House in Akure, preventing
Governor Olusegun Mimiko from entering.
The workers commenced the industrial action last week Wednesday to protest the non-payment of their five-month salaries.
The governor, who was forced to come
down from his vehicle to address the protesters, pleaded with them to
suspend the strike, saying the state did not have enough money to pay
the accumulated salary arrears.
The protesting workers, led by the State
Joint Negotiation Council chairman, Sunday Adeleye; the state Chairman
of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Bosede Daramola; and her Trade Union
Congress counterpart, Soladoye Ekundayo, rejected the governor’s plea.
Mimiko said the government was ready to
pay health and local government workers and teachers, to enable it to
inject some money into the state economy, adding that when health
workers resumed work, they would be able to meet the medical challenges
of the people.
The governor noted that his administration was considerate and not insensitive to the plight of the workers.
Mimiko appealed to them to call off the
one-week old strike and considered his commitment not to retrench any
worker in spite of the dwindling resources.
While saying the continuation of the
strike would only retard the economic growth of the state, the governor
charged the people of the state “to see the present situation in the
country as a collective challenge that we must face and proffer
solutions to.”
He added, “We are in a very difficult
time in Nigeria and I have absolutely nothing against your protest. I
can’t imagine somebody working diligently or not too diligently but
worked for five months without pay, especially in an economy that
depends mainly on salary.
“Your protest has been peaceful and that
is what democracy is all about. People must be able to ventilate their
feelings just like you are ventilating yours. But it is important for us
to know the truth because it is the truth that can set us free.”
But the governor effort to convince the
workers fell into deaf ears as some of them continued to shout “no
salary, no work”, intermittently.
Responding to the governor’s address,
the state chairman of JNC, Adeleye, declared that if the workers had no
signal that the state government was ready to pay their salary arrears,
the indefinite strike would continue.
Apart from the Government House, the workers also stormed major roads in Akure, the state capital, to continue the protest.
During the protest that lasted for over
four hours, the workers carried placards with different inscriptions
such as ‘Mimiko, pay our salary’, ‘We can’t feed our families’, ‘Workers
are dying of hunger’, and ‘Ise pupo, iya repete’ (much work, endless suffering).
It was learnt that the Ondo State
Council of Obas, led by the Osemawe of Ondo, Oba Victor Kiladejo, had
intervened in the industrial dispute as the traditional rulers were
meeting with the leadership of the workers’ unions as of the time of
filing this report.
Government offices, schools and
hospitals were still under lock and key on Thursday as a result of the
strike while the leadership of the labour unions in the state were
moving from one office to the other to monitor the compliance with the
stay-at-home order.
Meanwhile, following the failure of the
workers to suspend the strike, the state governor and some members of
the state executive council moved to the streets of Akure on Thursday to
evacuate refuse by the roadside.
The governor said his action was to prevent an outbreak of disease in the town.
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