From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has asked the Federal Government to immediately pay the N35,000 wage award to civil servants to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal as agreed by the union and the federal government during their negotiations.
According to the TUC, findings showed that workers have so far received only the palliative once, which is for the month of September since President Bola Tinubu made the commitment in October to pay the wage award for a period of six months.
Speaking at a press briefing shortly after the Congress’ emergency National Executive Council meeting in Abuja, the TUC President, Festus Osifo, warned all the 36 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, to tighten their belt in assuaging the plight of workers occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy in order to avoid fresh crisis in the country.
“We want the government to tighten their belts; government at all levels – federal, state and local, because a situation where they are asking Nigerians to keep tightening their belts and they (government officials) are living in affluence is not acceptable.
“On the issue of the wage award, it is on record that the payment has been made just once for the month of September, but as it is now, our members in the federal civil service have not been paid the N35,000 wage award since October. We wish to call on the government to fast-track all the payments now. We learnt that they’re putting some things in place to ensure the payment, but people are not ready to listen to excuses. Our demand is that they immediately pay this N35,000 wage award to the bank accounts of the federal civil servants without excuses,” he said.