Workers’ strike action ground activities in Ogun

Bankole Taiwo, Abeokuta

The strike action declared on Monday by the organised labour of Ogun State comprising of leadership of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) as well as Joint Negotiating Council (JNC) was observed religiously on Tuesday as the workers stayed away from their duty posts.

The State Secretariat at the Governor’s Office, Oke Mosan, Abeokuta was equally deserted by the workers likewise the local government secretariats, public hospitals and schools monitored by our Correspondent.

The workers had declared the indefinite strike to demand for payment of unremitted 21 months cooperative deductions from their salaries, implementation of contributory pension scheme as amended in 2013, payment of eight years leave bonuses among other demands tailored towards addressing what the labour termed general pathetic plight of the workers in the state.

A visit to Anglican High School, Quarry, Gateway Secondary School, Pepsi and African Church Grammar School, Ita Eko, all in Abeokuta saw the students walking back home.

Some of the workers who spoke with our Correspondent under the condition of anonymity declared that the strike would be total because they could not believe that the Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun could be this insensitive to their plight.

One of them said, “We had thought that being a child of parents who were once civil servants, the Governor would improve our lots, we had thought that we had put all the sufferings under Amosun behind us, but here we are being owed 21 months unremitted cooperative deductions, no leave bonus in the last eight years, our pensions are deducted every month yet nothing is remitted to our pension fund administrators, it’s really painful we found ourselves in this mess. The Governor has really disappointed us.”

Some of the students who spoke our Correspondent begged Gov. Dapo Abiodun to as a matter of urgency respond to the yearnings of their teachers and other state government workers.

Ogun State Secretary, Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Mr Samson Oyelere, noted that the strike remained total and indefinite.

“The strike is total and its going to be gradual, because the news might not have gone that viral as such.

“However, once the strike has been declared, within the next two days, it will be total because some of our teachers might not have heard about the news until they got to school this morning and most of them have returned home,” he said.

Oyelere explained that the reason for the strike was to drive home workers point for a better welfare in Ogun.

“We know that it will affect some things, hospitals, schools were shut, so, for that reason, the citizens will also bear the brunt of the strike.

“However, it’s not about the citizens, it’s about the government of the day, just to challenge the government to do the needful,” he said.

The Chairman, Trade Union Congress (TUC), Mr Akeem Lasisi, in the state, said that there was total compliance to the strike.

“I have visited hospitals, schools local governments and the state secretariat.

“It is a total compliance because the strike was not declared by the leadership but by the parliament of workers in the state.

“We carried the workers along and we did what they wanted. I only want to appeal to the government to please look into the demands and do the needful,” he said.