Kogi to slash workers salary

After two failed attempts, Kogi State Government and the organised labour have reached a middle ground agreement for 20 per cent salary cut for the month of April 2020.

Both sides arrived at 20 per cent salary reduction during a meeting, which lasted into the late hours of Tuesday.

Daily Trust learned on Wednesday that the April salaries have been pegged at 80 percent after tough debate on the matter.

The State government had earlier proposed a 50 percent pay cut in view of dwindling allocation, poor internally generated revenue (IGR), and rising indebtedness which placed intense pressure on the government purse.

A source close to the government said the indebtedness taking toll on salary obligations to civil servants, with banks swallowing the March 2020 statutory allocation paid in April.

It was also learned that due to the global economic reality, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) new had guidelines foreclosed the granting of huge overdraft to government as has been the case in the past.

At an earlier meeting on the matter last week, the organised labour in the state had in an interface with the government that ended in a deadlock insisted that nothing short of full salaries for workers would be acceptable.

At the second meeting held in Government House, Lokoja on Monday, the organised labour led by Comrade Onu Edoka also rejected the downward review of the salaries by the government to 70 percent, pointing out that there was no justification for payment on a percentage basis for the workers.

With the current 20 percent salary slash resolution, Comrade Edoka said that the gesture from the organised labour was a temporary measure in view of the prevailing global economic challenges, adding that any attempt at another pay cut by the government in the future would be strongly resisted.