Workers to get 4 months salary arrears before Friday - NLC

The Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress in Oyo State has said that the state government will clear the four months arrears of salaries owed to workers before Friday.

Olojede told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Monday that the issue of the arrears of salary was almost becoming a thing of the past.

He explained that on receipt of N26.6 billon as bailout fund by the state government from the Federal Government, the union held a meeting with the government on Sept. 21.

Olojede said that government started the payment of May salary on Sept. 22 while that of June was paid on Sept. 23, saying that a good numbers of workers have collected May and June salaries.

He said the Eid el-Kabir holiday affected the payment, and assured that the June salary would be paid to those who did not collect theirs before the festive.

Olojede said that for those who had collected their salary up to June, the union was working with the office of the Accountant-General for the payment of July salary on Monday, while that of August would be on Tuesday.

"I am assuring the workers that their arrears would be paid before the end of this week based on the agreement of the union with the state government which has started materialising.

"The union decided that the salary be paid on monthly basis in quick succession so as to guide against any irregularities.

"If it was paid at once, it would bring about some irregularities in the payment by way of short payment and can also be prone to fraud,’’ Olojede said.

The NLC chairman said that the workers who complained of not receiving bank alert should check with their respective banks as the delay in the alert might be from the banks.

Olojede said the union had advised the Skye bank, through which the state government was paying the salaries, to ensure uniform distribution of the money to other workers' banks to address the complaint of the workers.