LABOUR Unpaid salaries, pension hallmark of 2017 – NLC

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has described the outgone year, 2017, as a tough one for Nigerian workers and pensioners as it was characterised by unpaid salaries and pensions.

NLC President Ayuba Wabba stated this yesterday in his New Year message to Nigerian workers.

Wabba, however congratulated Nigerian workers and pensioners for their resilience which saw them pull through 2017 which, according to him, was one of the most difficult years for most Nigerians in recent history.

The NLC president noted that the poor economic situation in 2017 was aptly captured by the statistics recently released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which indicated that over four million Nigerians lost their jobs in 2017, contrary to the campaign promise of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) government to create three million jobs annually.

Wabba said the statistics from the NBS underscored the grave and depressing situation of the Nigerian economic landscape in 2017.

“Rather than work to create jobs and improve the condition of Nigerian working people and Nigerians in general, leading elements in the ruling APC government, like Governor Nasir el-Rufai, have been taking measures to further chastise and ruin Nigerians by throwing tens of thousands of workers into the already saturated unemployment market and Wabba said.

He also blamed the state governments for misusing the huge revenue received through the Federal Government intervention funds to clear arrears of unpaid salaries and pensions in many states of the federation, coupled with additional payment of three tranches of windfall (Paris Club debt refunds).

Specifically, Wabba mentioned Kogi, Osun, Benue, Ekiti and Bayelsa states among others as wretchedness,” states that entered 2018 with huge arrears spanning up to 10 or more months of wages and pensions.

On local government autonomy, he commended the recent passage of three core bills on Local Government autonomy in the country by the National Assembly, saying the passage of the constitutional amendment to guarantee local government autonomy will promote good governance and deepen democratic culture at the grassroots.