Governor Bassey Otu of Cross River State has appealed to the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, to help his government ‘weed out’ retired workers still occupying government offices.
The governor, represented by his deputy, Peter Odey, made the plea when he addressed protesting workers on Tuesday in Calabar.
Otu said when the retired workers are ejected from the offices or government apartments they have refused to leave since their retirement, the new ones will have where to work from or lay their heads.
He maintained that when they leave it will also create room for the growth of other workers and the employment of new ones.
Otu urged NLC to also support the government’s effort towards sanitizing the state civil service, which he said has been blighted by several anomalies that have left the present administration with a bloated wage bill.
He commended the protesting workers for their peaceful and coordinated manner of presenting their concerns before government, declaring support for labour over the dwindling standard of living in Nigeria.
“There is hunger in the land. Of course, we know. We promised to run a ‘People First’ government. If the people are hungry, there is no way this will happen.
“His Excellency, Governor Bassey Otu is not here today. He is in Abuja for the Labour Committee meeting, pushing for government to consider improving worker’s welfare in the country.
“We know that the present minimum wage of workers is not enough to measure up with the level of inflation in the country. Prices of goods are high. Salaries ought to go up, too. That is why as government, we have made sure that the N10,000 palliative is paid to every civil servant.
“We also made sure that the N5,000 Christmas bonus was paid to all civil servants in the State. We have gone ahead to pay WAEC fees for Cross River students preparing for examinations.
“We have done that as a government and will continue to do more. The government of Prince Bassey Otu will take care of the plight of workers,” he assured.
NLC Chairman, Comrade Gregory Olayi, said they were protesting over the current high level of hardship in the country.
He said workers salaries have become grossly inadequate to take care of their households.
The labour leader lauded Otu for the palliative intervention to civil servants in the state, urging the government to do more.
