The Benue State chapters of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have declared a one-week warning strike to begin on Tuesday, September 5.
Governor Samuel Ortom had on Tuesday pleaded with the labour leaders to shelve the strike as his administration was doing everything to pay the workers their salaries.
But, the labour unions after their joint meeting in Makurdi yesterday insisted that they would start the exercise from Tuesday and end on September 13.
In a communiqué signed by the NLC Chairman, Godwin Anya and his TUC counterpart, Tordue Tartenger, the unions said, “The statutory allocation from the federation account has not stopped coming to the state, not to mention the IGR, the supplementary support coming from the federal government under various sub-heads.”
The labour unions had on August 4 asked the state government to clear all salaries owed state workers or they would embark on industrial action beginning from September 1. But, Ortom after a closed door meeting with the labour leaders on Tuesday at the Government House in Makurdi, told newsmen that he had appealed to them for more time as his administration was making necessary moves to offset unpaid salaries.
