By Moses John
Geneva
Federal civil servants may embark on an industrial action any moment from now, except there is a last minute move by the government to settle salaries and promotion arrears owed them.
The workers told journalists in Geneva, Switzerland, at the on-going 106th Session of the International Labour Conference (ILC), that the federal government owed its workers a whopping sum of N290 billion in promotion allowances arrears and arrears of shortfall of salaries.
“As I speak with you, the situation is much tensed, workers are very restive and no labour leader can guarantee that the situation will not go out of hand. We are just trying to manage the situation, knowing some of the other challenges facing the country,” Secretary-General of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), Comrade Bashir Alade Lawal, made the workers’ position known while speaking with journalists.
According to Lawal, the indebtedness was dated back to 2007 when the federal government failed to pay its workers shortfall of salary and promotion arrears.
Lawal, who was responding to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, that the present government had taken steps and initiated payment before he left home for the annual ILC in Geneva, said, government “is not sincere with workers’ welfare.”
The minister was quoted to have said, while N14.6 billion was expended in the area of shortfall of salaries, a sum of N10 billion was already being processed before he left Nigeria for the conference.
Notwithstanding the assurance, the labour leader believed the federal government was not sincere on the issue of the payment, stressing that after giving a bailout to the state governments to pay the salaries and arrears of its workers, the workers still remained unpaid.
He said: “If you look at the entire problem, you will agree that government is not sincere with workers. This indebtedness is dated back to 2007, and you want to imagine that workers who are working are being promoted as at when due but government is refusing to pay them their promotion arrears.
“Somebody that has been promoted from level 8 to 9, from 9 to 10, from 10 to 12 and so on is still earning level 8 salary because the employer, which is the federal government, has refused to do the right thing. So, this issue has brought these arrears that run to N290 billion.
“The insincerity of the federal government is demonstrated in the first instance, when the federal government gave out the bailout funds to states totalling about N734 billion, the federal government took 52.2 per cent of the amount as a result of the revenue sharing formula. Then the states took their shares.
“The federal government is asking the states to use their share to pay arrears of workers’ salaries, but the federal government took its share and diverted it into other use without using it to pay salaries. That is the height of insincerity. So, now the federal government has accepted that there is a problem.”
He, however, expressed the belief that recent efforts by the National Assembly, Labour and executive arm of government, will resolve the issue and forestall imminent crisis, adding that Labour and the National Assembly had offered a window to be utilised to address the N290 billion debt.
“Now, we have come together, including the National Assembly on the issue of this N290 billion. The National Assembly has offered a window that we should utilise what is currently in the budget. What is in the budget is N30 billion and so the two sides would then meet and look at the possibility of packaging a sort of loan or bond to be able to sort this out.
“This N10 billion released by the government is just in the interim, to just start doing something. The N30 billion in the budget is not what is readily available because of the process involved before it can be accessed.
“However, the agreement we have with the National Assembly and other stakeholders is that as soon as the budget becomes law, the money will be released immediately. So, from the N290 billion, you would have sorted out 40billion, remaining N250 billion.
“With the National Assembly, we are hopeful with the kind of interest shown, because most of the lawmakers saw what happened during May Day in Abuja where they were evacuated into their vehicles during workers’ reaction as a result of frustration.
“So, let us see the result of all these initiatives, and hopefully, the way we are looking at it that we will be able to sort it out this year. Anything short of that, or should they decide to foot drag on this, I bet you, even with the leadership of the union, peace will not be guaranteed,” Lawal further warned.
