Workers in Jigawa State have called on the state government to address all irregularities that have affected the payment of salaries, News About Nigeria reports.
The State Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Com. Sanusi Alhassan, made this call while speaking on Wednesday.
He noted that these irregularities have resulted in a delay in the payment of salaries for May and urged the government to sort out all issues concerning them.
He disclosed that the delay in the payment of salaries is also being caused by the ongoing workers’ verification exercise by the state government, lamenting that the exercise has not only put the workers in a state of uncertainty but has also jeopardised their hopes of being paid their legitimate entitlement as many legitimate workers have been declared ghost workers.
He opined that while Congress is not against periodic audits of workers, the exercise should not be done in a way that causes hardships and uncertainties to workers, their immediate families, and other dependents.
He bemoaned the experiences of workers in the state, stating that they have been subjected to various degrees of hardship, with many injured during the rushed and ill-organised data capture exercise that was marred by cases of extortion of various sums of money from members.
Workers have been subjected to various degrees of hardship, with many injured during the rushed and ill-organised data capture exercise that was marred by cases of extortion of various sums of money from our members.
Alhassan said that many were forced to sleep on tarmacs and open spaces for days to participate in the exercise that could have been done remotely with the help of technology.
“Worst still, the consultants failed to capture more than 7800 legitimate workers, labelling them as ghost workers, all in the quest to maximise their commission. To add to the workers’ woes, the state government has rushed to adopt the payment of salaries for April with the IPPMS platform and this, expectedly, led to the underpayment of staff,” he stated.
Alhassan, therefore, urged the state government to ensure that the migration to the Integrated Personnel Payroll Management System, (IPPMS) platform is conducted in such a way that workers are not affected by any hidden charges, unnecessary bottlenecks in addressing routine complaints, and are paid as and when due.
