Abia govt has not received new Tranche of Paris Club refund - Organised Labour
Posted by FN Editor | 5 years ago | 1,367 times
The organised labour in Abia on Saturday confirmed that the state Government is yet to receive the last tranche of Paris Club Refund, contrary to previously circulated information.
This was contained in a joint statement signed by Uchenna Obigwe, Chris Okoro and Sunny Onwuma, the Chairmen of NLC, TUC and JNC, respectively, and issued to newsmen in Umuahia.
Organized labour also resolved to postpone the planned warning strike indefinitely to enable the committee set up to review issues that led to the notice of warning strike conclude its work.
The leadership of the organised labour, comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Joint Negotiating Council (JNC), had on Aug. 8 issued a seven-day ultimatum to the state government to address the problem of unpaid arrears of workers’ salaries for those working in state parastatals and pensions in the state.
It threatened to embark on a warning strike at the expiration of the ultimatum on Friday.
In a swift reaction to the ultimatum, the state government set up a seven-member committee, headed by the Head of Service, Mr Onyii Wamah, “to articulate and come out with modalities on how to clear the outstanding arrears.”
In an interview with newsmen, Obigwe said that labour would rather allow the committee to complete its work, adding that the implementation of the anticipated report would guide labour on what next to do.
The four-paragraph statement read, among other things: “That the organised labour in Abia met with Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu in respect of the ultimatum.
“That contrary to the unsubstantiated rumour, the Abia government affirmed that it had not received any new tranche of the Paris Club refund.
“That the handling of the outcome of the report of the committee will determine labour’s next line of action.”
Other members of the committee were the Accountant-General of the State, Mr Kelechi Imeorie, and Dr ACB Agbazuere, a former Chairman of NLC in the state, in addition to the chairmen of NLC, TUC and JNC.
FACTNEWS recalls that in response to the notice of strike by organized labour, the state government denied receiving the last tranche of Paris Club Refunds paid to most states and also stated that workers in its ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) are up to date with salary payment but promised to help look into the operations of ailing state parastatals to ensure that the workers are paid regularly.
See copy of press statement below..
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