…fate of LG workers hangs in balance
By Mumini AbdulKareem
Succour came the way of Kwara State workers employed during the twilight of the last administration as Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq yesterday ordered the payment of their two months salaries for the month of May and June.
The affected workers tagged “sunset workers” were reportedly excluded from payment of May salaries by the Governor last month over alleged political motive in their employment, insisting that it will have to conclude discreet investigation on the matter before any payment can be made to them.
The plight of the affected workers has become one of the major talking points in the state with many of them pleading with the Governor not to sack them because of the present economic situation in the state.
But yesterday, the Governor reinstated the payment of their salaries to the surprise of many of them. Some of the affected under the state payroll confirmed the receipt of their alert on the issue.
According a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Rafiu Ajakaye, on Wednesday, “The Governor has directed that the workers be paid their May and June salary.
“As a statesman and father to all, His Excellency believes the government should not punish these workers for decisions they didn’t take…He has shown good will and magnanimity to all”.
He further charged them to reciprocate the action of the governor by serving the state diligently.
However, it was learnt that the affected local government “sunset workers” were yet to receive their money with some of them that spoke with our reporter pleading with the Governor to consider them.
This is just as the screening of the affected workers was still ongoing in some local government councils across the state.
A top government source who confided in our reporter last night on the issue added a new twist to the whole scenario of the local government workers issue.
According to the source, “We keep talking about wanting independent for the local government, fiscal federalism, and the likes, and yet we want to do thing the same way or retain the old system
“You are aware that the NFIU has taken effect and does not allow state to control local government money anymore. So maybe the government needs to also reflect the new reality”, he added.
