From Tom Garba, Yola
Aggrieved workers in Adamawa State under the aegis of Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) Tuesday locked the gates of the Government House to protest the non-payment of their salaries and other entitlements,
The protest, which led to the closure of the main gates to the seat of government for hours, caused a stampede within Government House and its environs as staffers and visitors were locked out for the period of the protest.
The angry workers chanted solidarity songs and carried placards with inscription like “Remove all anti-Labour government functionaries”, “Stop using security to intimidate us”, among others.
The protesters particularly demanded the removal of the Executive
Chairman, Adamawa State Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Abdullahi Dauda Belel, General Manager, Adamawa Transport Company Limited, Engr. Ahmad Umar Nyako and Chairman, Adamawa State Post-Primary Schools Management Board, Alhaji Abdullahi Jingi.
Addressing the workers at the gates of the government House, state chairman of the NLC, Comrade Dauda Maina, stated that the workers resorted to the protest after all avenues to resolve pressing issues that affect them were not addressed.
Labour, Maina said had tolerated the three heads of parastatals for a long time due to their lukewarm attitude to workers in their respective organizations.
The NLC chairman maintained that the stances of the three executive officers to their workers have led to backlog of unpaid salaries and arrears, some up to eight months running and longer.
Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Ahmad Sajoh, who wanted attempted to address the protesting workers was booed and rejected as they demanded for higher government functionary to address them.
Secretary to the state government, Dr. Umar Bindir, later addressed the protesters and pleaded with them to give peace a chance, promising that their grievances would be addressed as soon as the governor returned from his official trip to Abuja.
Reacting to the call for his removal, Belel stated that the backlog of salary arrears in his department followed low level of subvention to it from the state government.
Jingi and Nyako could not be reached for their comments.
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