Encomium
– Civil servants list complaints that will work against APC
CERTAINLY, the last has not been heard of the Saturday, June 21, 2014 governorship election in Ekiti State.
Aside the fact the victors are still reeling in their victory and the vanquished licking their wounds, the workers related issues which many believed accounted for the trouncing of the incumbent governor is already reverberating in some other states in the South West.
One of such states where workers have been awakened from their slumbers by the Ekiti election is Lagos. Text messages are already being sent by some of the civil servants in the state to ginger their colleagues to take action by using their votes against the government that has short-changed them in terms of their salaries and allowances.
One of such text messages which ENCOMIUM Weekly got a hold on read thus: ELECTION 2015: Lagos State civil servants rise up, vote wisely to get back payment of your annual leave and other workers welfare packages. It is only in Lagos State that civil servants are denied annual leave allowance, over-utilised and underpaid. Use your vote to get ur right back. LAGOS STATE CIVIL SERVANT ASSOCIATION. Pls, forward this message.”
ENCOMIUM Weekly got in touch with three senior civil servants to ask them whether they received such text message. Only one said he saw it. He said he, however, deleted the message immediately because he did not believe it actually came from any of their associations since there is none of their associations by the name Lagos State Civil Servant Association.
The three men who spoke off record, however, agreed that the issues raised in the text messages are true. They said since the introduction of N18,000 minimum wage, the administration of Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), has been shortchanging them, particularly those of them from grade level 08 and above.
According to them, it was the administration of Governor Fashola (SAN) that brought the idea of lumping their basic salaries and allowances together to the extent that today they don’t know their basic salaries anymore. They argued that prior to this new salary structure of Governor Fashola, the basic salary is separated from other allowances like housing, transport, meal, etc.
They said despite lumping their basic salaries and allowances together, their pay packet is far less to that of their counterparts in federal civil service and some states of the federation. That it is true that they have been deprived of their leave allowance. They said annually when they go on leave, they are usually paid a lump sum though it may come before or after their vacation. They said usually the junior staff are paid their leave allowances in the month of April and June every year, while the senior staff are paid theirs between September and December every year. But since the introduction of minimum wage, they have not been paid any leave allowance.
The government they said told them their leave allowances has been spread over their salaries for the whole year. To them, leave allowances are supposed to be certain percentage of their basic salaries and since they did not even know their basic salaries how will they know whether their leave allowances has been spread over their salaries throughout the year?
They all agreed that their salaries and allowances may not change very soon because they know that Governor Fashola does not yield easily to pressure. But to them, the Ekiti situation has taught them to put their destinies in their hands through their votes. This probably explains why they have been texting each other to use their votes wisely in February 2015.
We sent a text message to Mr. Remi Ibirogba, the State Commissioner for Information and Strategy on this issue but we have not received any response.
Since the Saturday, June 21 governorship election which the incumbent Governor Kayode Fayemi lost to his opponent, Mr. Ayo Fayose, many reasons have been adduced for his woeful performance in the election. One of such reasons was his face-off with the public servants (civil servants, teachers and local government workers in the state).
It is not only in Lagos State that the ripple of the Ekiti election is reverberating but also in some other states in South West.
For instance, Governor Amosun in Ogun State has declared a ‘naira rain’ for civil servants in the state. He has approved car and housing loans for the workers. He has also promised them to implement 27.5 per cent teacher allowance. The governor has also dedicated a market called Oja Irorun, a farm produce market for public servants within the state. The market is established at the state secretariat, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.
In Edo State, Governor Adams Oshiomhole has reversed the planned Competency Test for teachers in the state. Not only this, he has also recalled the 936 teachers whose names were deleted from the payroll over certificate discrepancies and age falsification.
