Thousands of civil servants under the auspices of the Trade Union Congress in Ondo State are protesting against the percentage payment of their monthly wages by the Ondo State Government.

According to protesters, the part payment has subjected many of them to hardship for the past four months during which the government of Rotimi Akeredolu has been defaulting in the payment of their wages.

This was revealed in a communique released on Saturday after the emergency meeting held two days earlier at the TUC secretariat in Akure, the state capital.

“Having carefully examined the plethora of concerns of workers on percentage payment of salaries by the state government, especially at this critical time, and with the ever-rising prices of food items, drugs and medication, and other basic amenities of life, which are no longer within the reach of ordinary Nigerians, the council calls on the state government to re-engineer its finances to offset the four months arrears of workers salaries and halt any further percentage payment of workers’ salaries as workers will no longer accept any form of percentage payment of their monthly salaries henceforth,” read a part of the communique.

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FIJ gathered that the civil servants were last paid 40 percent balance of their February arrears on June 11. Full salaries of March, April, May, and June are yet to be paid at all.

Sources also confirmed that these irregularities in salaries have been consistently ongoing since November 2020 as the state government only pays between 40 and 60 percent of salary up till February 2021.

Speaking with Helen Odofin, TUC Chairman in Ondo State, on Sunday, she maintained that the union’s decision was reached based on the economic recession, which has bloated the price of commodities in the state and the country as a whole. 

“We realized that some of our workers cannot even take anything home at the end of the month after the automatic deduction of different financial commitments such as loans. The price of goods has also skyrocketed in the market,” she said.

“If it will take the state government to add up to allocations to pay one salary, they should do so. Enough of the percentage payment!”

When contacted by FIJ, Richard Olabode, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, said he couldn’t address the press on the issue. He promised to send the contact of the Ondo State Head of Service but hadn’t done so as of press time.