Workers in Benue State heaved a sigh of relief after receiving one month salary from the state government.
Some of the workers who spoke to our correspondent in Makurdi, the state capital, said they started receiving alerts on Sunday.
Oraduen, a worker under the state government’s employ, said it felt so good to get paid after working without pay for the past seven months.
“I feel so happy with the payment of this one month salary. I got an alert at about 8pm on Sunday. And my spirit has come alive again. The situation was so bad before now such that I had to park my car and trek.”
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“Now, I can put my car in use; send some money to my sick my mother and buy food for my household. I’m not the only one excited, everyone in my office feels good too and those who haven’t been coming to work are at their duty post this morning. We hope to get another three months of salary before the end of the week,” Oraduen who didn’t want his first name mentioned, said.
Also, another worker, Fidelis, said he got a one month alert of payment of his salary on Monday morning after being owed for eight months.
Fidelis, alongside another worker, Daniel, expressed delight that the one month salary paid to them would cushion the effect of hardship which their families have been through in the past months of unpaid salaries.
The state’s Chairman of Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Terungwa Igbe, also confirmed that the workers have been paid one month salary.
Meanwhile, a few others including teachers and pensioners told our correspondent that they are still waiting to be paid.
A teacher in one of the Primary school in Makurdi, who just wanted to be identified as Doosuur, said they were hoping to be paid as well.
Chairman of the Concerned/Aggrieved Pensioners in Benue State, Comrade Akosu Ioream, said, “Local government pensioners of primary school board have started receiving alert but that is not a verified news. As for Benue State pensioners which I’m the chairman, we have not started receiving any alert; we having our exco meeting now, so if something like that has happened I would have known.
“We’re hoping that any moment from now, we will get our alerts; I hear that the delay is because they want to rid ghost pensioners and other irregularities as our voucher is being prepared. I also heard that the governor wants to pay us more than three months so they are preparing vouchers. But, there are no yet authentic information as to when and how we will start getting our pension alerts.”
