The Kogi State Chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Onuh Edoka, said this while speaking at the State Executive Council (SEC) meeting of NLC in Lokoja yesterday.
According to him, all affiliates of the NLC in the state have given their commitments to fully mobilise their members for the strike.
He said by the mandate of NLC affiliates, Kogi State Government would by Tuesday, January 25, 2022, serve a 14-day ultimatum to resolve all contentious issues or face an indefinite strike action by the labour unions.
He noted that despite the cooperation and understanding of Kogi workers with the government, the government has continued to handle the welfare of workers lackadaisically.
The union leader said the Kogi government set up a minimum wage committee in February 2020 with a mandate to turn in their report within four weeks, but two years after, there was no report, adding that the minimum wage implementation remains stalled.
The NLC said the present administration of Governor Yahaya Bello has not added any value to Kogi workers since inception, stressing that there has been no annual increment for workers and no cash-backed of promotions.
Edoka said that the organised labour has also put forward the immediate stoppage of percentage salaries paid to local council workers and primary school teachers.
He apologised to Kogi workers for the delay in taking action on the issues affecting them, noting that the leadership of the NLC in the state believed that they could use diplomacy and other peaceful means to make the government see reasons in attending to all welfare issues affecting workers.
He stated that since the government has failed to do the needful all these years and the national headquarters of the NLC has given a directive that workers in the states where the minimum wage has not been implemented should proceed on indefinite strike, Kogi NLC has no option than to key into the directive of the national body of the union.
He urged workers in the state to remain law-abiding and await further directives from the leadership of the NLC.
