*Wants all outstanding wage award arrears paid within next 14 days
By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan
Worried by their plight, the Federal Workers Forum (FWF) on Tuesday, alerted that the Federal Government workers in the country are now suffering in silence.
Raising the alarm in a communique signed by the forum’s National Coordinator, Comrade Andrew Emelieze issued at the end of an online meeting to evaluate the existential conditions of the federal workers in Nigeria, FWF noted that it “has been a tale of harrowing experiences from the federal government workers in Nigeria”
According to the forum, ” It has been a tale of harrowing experiences from the federal government workers in Nigeria”, adding, “The workers have been suffering in silence. Federal government workers are frustrated and sorrowful”.
” Live has been made meaningless and hellish since the removal of subsidy on petrol. The daily rising cost of living has made everything worthless resulting in monumental hardship being visited on the workers”, it said
FWF added, ” After intense and critical discussions concerning the living conditions of the federal workforce. The general submission is that the federal workers have been shortchanged , cut off from acceptable social life and our family structure has been badly affected, since the removal of fuel subsidy.
” The government had promised a palliative package through a wage award meant to mitigate against the sufferings caused by the subsidy removal. Unfortunately, the wage ward is not paid promptly”.
FWF stressed further ” The purpose of putting up the wage award has been defeated, as most workers only got paid just once in September, and are being owed three months arrears of payment , gradually getting to the fourth month now”, adding, ” The federal government has derailed in the payment of wage award to her workers”.
The Forum maintained, ” It is getting to the fourth month that most of the federal government workers have not received any wage award”, saying, ” The payment of the wage award has been staggering, while a very few just got the second month, out of the six months promised from September 2023, majority of the federal government workers are yet to collect the October, November and December arrears.
” It is so bad that protest letters against the non implementation of the wage award has emanated from the military and paramilitary.
Workers are fed up, the sufferings is unlimited. It is as if government want to deliberately torture the federal employees.
“Workers have gone borrowing in order to continue surviving. What is more surprising is the response by the Tinubu led Federal government pretending that all is well while the federal workers are starving “.
FWF in the communique stated that it resolves that * All the outstanding wage award arrears be paid within the next fourteen days, * That the government should investigate the delay in the payment of wage award, which we see as an act of corruption.
* That all outstanding promotion arrears and many other pending arrears owed workers be paid.
” That all pending arrears owed the federal universities workers be paid
That salaries be paid latest 28th of every month.That the federal government look into and implement our earlier demands concerning free education to the dependants of all federal government workers in all federal government owned schools across all levels.
“That the federal minimum wage should not be less than three hundred thousand naira (300k)
That all federal government workers be ready to react at the expiration of the two weeks ultimatum giving to the federal government if our demands are not met.”
