Nasarawa State government says it’ is invoking the no-work-no-pay rule for striking civil servants in the state.
This was part of the resolutions taken at an emergency expanded security meeting, held at the Government House, Lafia.
In a statement issued at the end of the meeting, by the secretary to the state government Mohammed Ubandoma Aliyu .says government recognises the right of workers to embark on strike, but should be done within the confines of the law.
The state government expressed dismay over the action of the organised labour, to embark on indefinite strike as well as picketing of offices, depriving workers access to their offices.
It also directed permanent secretaries at the various ministries, departments and agencies, to open attendance registers, with a view to actualising the no-work-no-pay rule.
While expressing desire for continuous dialogue with the organized labour in the state, government has however directed security agencies to deploy its personnel to all MDAs, with a view to restoring law and order.
The Nasarawa State government said it will also seek legal interpretation of the action embarked upon by the organized labour at the law courts.
The statement further called on the people of the state, to remain calm and law abiding, as the government, commended members of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), for their refusal to join the ongoing strike .
The organized labour comprising the Nigerian Labor Congress NLC, and the Trade Union Congress, TUC had declared an indefinite strike in the state which began on Tuesday.
Nasarawa state chairmen of the NLC and TUC comrade Yusuf Iya and Mohammed Doma made the declaration at a joint press conference on Monday in Lafia, the state capital.
Iya said despite the series of agreements reached with the state government to pay the backlog of workers promotion allowance since 2011 till date, nothing has been done.
“The present governor Abdullahi Sule when he came on board two years ago he pleaded with the Labour to be patient with him, we were patient till after two years and nothing has been done,” he said.
“The past administration hinge their excuse on paucity of fund saying they only received about N2.5billion as federal allocation, now the state is receiving N4.5billion.x
“Governor Sule has up his security vote from N200billion to N300billion, but kept telling us that there is no money to pay arrears of workers since the past 13-14 years.
“A situation where there is no promotion allowances, no annually increment, no training. Worker in the state who were employed since 2011 still receiving same salary with nothing being added till date”, Iya lamented.
The TUC chairman said that the workers in Nasarawa have suffered too long and have endured so much.
He stated that the decision to embark on the Indefinite strike was a collective decision and overdue, noting that the union had exhausted all channels of dialogue.
The union urged all workers in the state to comply strictly with the decision and vowed to stay at home until their demands are granted.
RN