Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello has said workers in the state are falsely painting his government as inhumane and irresponsible.

Background:

• ASUU had blasted Yahaya Bello over non-payment of salaries.
• The governor was later said to be building a mansion in Okene despite owing workers.
• Civil servants in Kogi also rejected Yahaya Bello’s 50% salary.

What happened:

• Workers in the state appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in the non-payment of their salaries.
• They asked the President to direct NEMA to send food supplies and other relief materials to them.
• They said they have not received salaries for 11 to 21 months.

Bello’s response:

Reacting through Kingsley Fanwo, his spokesman, Bello said;

• The government had been paying workers who have been cleared and verified.

“The tyranny of labour’s blackmail and campaign of calumny against government has clearly shown there are some underbelly factors surrounding the industrial disagreement between it and government in the state,” he said.

“This government has shown transparency and accountability by publishing our accounts and what has been paid to individual worker in the state. No worker has come out to disclaim our facts.

“Facts at the disposal of government show that some desperate politicians are playing politics with the destiny of the people of Kogi state, who need the services for which these striking workers are paid. When we chose to confront the failed system of the past, we had no doubt of the attendant contention with the entrenched forces of retrogression who benefited from the blind corruption of the past.

“We have started a process of recovering our looted commonwealth from past leaders. A white paper implementation committee was constituted to recover the loot. But Labour was used to strikes. We shall remain focused in ensuring that we recover every kobo stolen from the coffers of this great state.”

“We promised a reformed, robust, disciplined, digital and accountable civil service that will oil our New Direction Agenda. This administration is poised to pursue it to a logical conclusion to the benefit of the populace,” he added.

“We are not ignorant of the fact that some disgruntled elements are uncomfortable with the digitalization of the civil service operations which will curb truancy and corruption. As a responsible government, we have never denied owing workers a few months salary. We have paid half of July and we are in the process of paying the balance as well as the August salary.

“The need for labour to embrace dialogue stems from the paucity of resources across the nation. It is not peculiar to our state. We are ready to dialogue with labour when they return to work and we hope they will do that in the interest of the good people of Kogi state.

“We will be decisive if they remain adamant and continue to go violent on workers who do not believe in their agitation.”

Azeez