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Activities of the
Ogun State government were yesterday paralysed, following the
commencement of a three-day warning strike embarked upon by the civil
servants across the state. The first phase of the strike will last till
tomorrow, before further action by the workers.

The workers, under
the aegis of Joint Public Service Negotiating Council had, on Monday,
expressed its intention to embark on the strike, following allegation
against the state government over non-remittance of pension funds
totaling N3.8billion, as well as other unpaid allowances meant for them.

The state chairman
of the Joint Public Service Negotiating Council, Emmanuel Sunday
Adeegbe, had, at the press conference, accused the state government of
additional non-payment of leave bonus from 2009 to date.

The allegation also
includes non-payment of gratuity to senior citizens {retired civil
servants} since September 2008, and non-release of running cost to
ministries and parastatals since January 2010.

Investigations
revealed that the strike took place as scheduled, as many of the
offices were under lock and key. The governor’s office, located at
Oke-Mosan, which accommodates secretariat of the civil servants, was
deserted. In fact, the giant gate leading to the governor’s
office/secretariat, which is located along the Golf Course way, was not
opened for any passage, just as the vicinity was like a ghost town.

Insistent on strike

Similarly, public
schools were shut. Students who were not aware of the strike had to
return home, because of the absence of both the academic and
non-academic staff in their various schools.

The workers’
leaders said their colleagues should stay at home for the three days of
the warning strike, as all avenues to ensure the payment of items have
failed.

“Workers should
discountenance the government appeals, threat, and coercive tendencies
and await further directive from labour,” he said.

At 5pm, when NEXT visited the Nigeria Labour Congress {NLC}
secretariat, located within the Government Reservation Area, Abeokuta,
top officials and principal officers of the union were still holding
meetings, apparently for the next line of action.