Governor Ayodele Fayose
Government workers in Ekiti State have appealed to Governor Ayo
Fayose to accord priorities to the payment of backlog of salary arrears
owed them rather than giving their children Christmas clothes.
They expressed regrets that many of them are dying of hunger while
others who are afflicted with debilitating ailments and lack money to
access quality healthcare delivery.
Acting under the aegis of the Enlightened Workers’ Forum (EWF),
they welcomed the directive from the Presidency that governors should
clear all arrears owed workers before Christmas.
In a press statement made available to The Nation on Friday, EWF
Coordinator, Mike Bamidele, criticised the decision of the governor to
provide free Christmas clothes to 20,000 children in the state.
Describing the Free Xmas Clothes for Kids project as a “misplaced
priority,” Bamidele said workers’ salaries should remain the governors’
priority rather than “unnecessary grandstanding and splurge on frivolities.”
Bamidele said hunger occasioned by the non-payment of salaries has
unleashed hardship on workers some of whom, he said are dying of hunger
and ailments the can’t treat.
He said: “We are still at a loss why the governor still owes
core civil servants five months arrears, workers in institutions on
subventions seven months and local government workers and primary school
teachers nine months.
“Rather than making sincere and concrete efforts to pay our
salaries, the governor is busy distributing Christmas clothes for 20,000
children.
“If he pays their parents regularly, it will be easy for them
to buy clothes for their children. It is not the business of government
to be buying Christmas clothes for children and this has turned Ekiti to
a laughing stock.
“Offering to buy Christmas clothes for children when salaries
are not paid is an attempt to play politics with the poverty of the
people and turn the innocent kids to pawns on the political chess board.
“We reject this Christmas Clothes for Children project in its
entirety; all we need are our salaries and allowances. Let the governor
look for means to pay them so that we can have relief.
“A labourer deserves his wages and the sweat of his labour must
not dry on his forehead. We have worked for this money, it is our right
and not privilege, the governor must pay our salaries.
“We are also using this medium to call on the Federal
Government to investigate how bailout funds, Paris Club refunds, Budget
Support Funds sent to Ekiti State were spent.
“We believe if these monies are deployed to payment of workers, all these arrears would have been offset by now.”
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