…Wants Immediate Disbursement Of N35,000 Wage Award
By Ken Afor
The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has expressed its dissatisfaction with the request made by the three tiers of government, urging Nigerians to continue making sacrifices while government officials enjoy luxurious lifestyles.
The TUC President, Festus Osifo made this known following the non-payment of the N35,000 wage award to federal civil servants since October.
The TUC President, therefore, called on the federal government to expeditiously disburse the ₦35,000 wage award pledged to federal civil servants.
The call was made during a press briefing in Abuja after its National Executive Council emergency meeting on Tuesday.
Osifo stressed that despite the initial payment made in September, civil servants are still awaiting the wage award since October.
He implored the government to accelerate the payments promptly, highlighting the growing dissatisfaction among the impacted workforce.
The TUC president emphasized the importance of the government taking decisive measures to ease the financial burden on workers resulting from the elimination of fuel subsidies.
He called upon both the federal and state governments, as well as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, to prioritize tackling this matter in order to prevent potential crises.
Osifo stated, “We demand that they immediately pay this ₦35,000 wage award to the bank accounts of the federal civil servants without excuses.
“We want the government to tighten their belts, governments at all levels – the federal government, the state and local governments because a situation where they are asking Nigerians to keep tightening their belt and they (government officials) are living in affluence is not acceptable.”
It would be recalled, the N35,000 wage award was part of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the federal government and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) including the TUC on October 2, 2023.
The MoU was reached as a result of dispute arising from withdrawal of subsidy on the price of Premium Motor Spirit.
“The federal government grants a wage award of N35,000 (thirty-five thousand Naira) only to all federal government workers beginning from the month of September pending when a new national minimum wage is expected to have been signed into law,” according to the MoU.
