Striking civil servants in Ogun State have declared that they are not afraid of any action that the state government may take to force them back to work following the ongoing strike.
Chairman of the state chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Akeem Ambali, made the assertion on Wednesday during a mega rally held by the workers at the NLC secretariat on Abiola Way, Abeokuta.
He disclose that the workers would march to the state secretariat at Oke Mosan on Monday for another “peaceful mega rally,” stressing that the presence of law enforcement agents would not stop them.
He said, “On Monday, all of us will march to Oke Mosan, if he (the governor) likes, let him bring one million police or soldiers. If he arrests us today, we are ready to go to cell, we are not afraid of detention.
“The opening of registers is illegal. The Secretary to the State Government has not called us for dialogue. The government should have the political will to invite us. If they invite us today, we are going to dialogue with them.
“We will not allow what is happening to workers in Osun and Oyo states to happen in Ogun State.”
The state Chairman of the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council, Abiodun Olakanmi, ridiculed the ‘no work, no pay’ threat from the government, arguing that it should be the reverse, ‘no pay, no work.’
He noted that the workers were not asking for salary increase, but were only demanding the unremitted deductions made from their salary.
He said, “We are not asking for any addition to our salary, all we are asking is for the government to pay the unremitted deductions made from our salary.”
Olakanmi disclosed that the workers would go on to meeting every Monday to review the strike action and develop new strategies.
The state chairman, Nigeria Union of Teachers, Dare Ilekoya, cried out that some teachers could no longer pay their children’s school fees because they were being owed salary deductions.
He said, “How do you expect such teachers to work in their schools?”
The state President, Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools, Akeem Lasisi, also pleaded with the state government to clear the workers’ salary deductions to enable them to meet their financial needs.
The state Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council had last Monday, instructed the state civil servants to embark on an indefinite strike because of the refusal of the government to honour its promise to pay up the deductions.
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