From Judex Okoro, Calabar
Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River and the state chapter chairman of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Mr Monday Ogbodum, have disagreed over the payment of gratuity and promotion arrears to workers in the past seven years.
Ayade had in a recent interview, claimed that his administration had cleared gratuities, pensions and salaries.
He during May Day celebration lifted the embargo on workers’ promotion in Cross River and even went ahead to promote about five additional permanent secretaries a few weeks to the end of his administration.
As at the time of filling this report, civil servants had been directed to go screening at their various units.
But reacting, Mr Ogbodum said no civil servant in the state had been promoted by the Prof. Ben Ayade-led administration in the last seven years.
The TUC chairman who scored the outgoing administration low on workers’ welfare, said beside regular payment of salaries and pensions, workers had the worst of welfare under Ayade.
Ogbodum said that the last time retirees were paid gratuity was in 2014, adding that implementation of workers promotion since 2016 had not been 100% while nothing was been done or had been done to local government workers.
On “payment of gratuities, a committee put in place by government to actualise and effect payment, has become moribund after the initial released of the sum of N200m between January and April, 2022 which could not accommodate all retirees in the month of March, 2014.
“No further release has been made by government. Therefore, payment of gratuities to state retirees from April, 2014 and local government workers from 2012 is still pending.
He further said that the last minimum wage was yet to be fully implemented by the outgoing administration, explaining that only workers between Level one to six have fully enjoyed payment of the minimum wage while it was yet to be fully implemented for workers on Level 7 to 17.
Ogbodum, who doubles as the state chairman of the Senior Civil Servants Association of Nigeria, enjoined the incoming administration of Sen. Bassey Otu to prioritise workers’ welfare in order to get the best out of them.