Workers Day: Labour leaders want embargo on in-service training lifted

The Organised Labour in Nasarawa State on Wednesday marked this year’s Workers Day with a call on the state government to lift the embargo it placed on in-service training for civil servants.
The call was jointly made by Yusuf Iya, the Nigeria Labour Congress, chairman and Mohammed Umar-Doma, his Trade Union Congress, counterpart while addressing the workers in Lafia.
According to the duo, the state government placed an embargo on in-service programmes for civil servants since 2017, via an executive order.
Iya, in his speech, specifically noted that no worker had been given approval for in-service training since the embargo was placed in 2017.
He regretted that no civil servant had been trained in the past two years “even when N60 million was being budgeted each year for in-service, and another N10 million for workers week”.
He said: “During the workers’ week, government is expected to reward the best staff but nothing has been given to anyone since 2011.”
He further called on the state government to pay the two years balance of the 50 percent salaries owed local government workers and retirees before the end of the tenure of the current government.
The Chairman also called on the state government to reverse the transfer and stoppage of salaries of union leaders who were being punished for roles they allegedly played in previous strike actions.
Similarly, Umar-Doma, TUC Chairman, regretted that the salary of Gabriel Agbashi, one of the union leaders, had not been paid for one year, and called on the government to reverse such decision.