Kogi State: NLC Calls For Immediate Sack Of Service Head

The Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, urges Governor Yahaya Bello to sack the State Head of Service, Mrs. Deborah Ogunmola, claiming she has exceeded 35 years in service..

Governor Yahaya Bello was advised by the union to reappoint a new Head of Service to supervise the activities of the Civil Servants in Kogi State.

Onuh Edoka, The State Chairman of NLC, disclosed this in Lokoja, yesterday, during the First Annual Regular Trade Group Council Meeting of Non-Academic Staff of Educational and Associated Institutions, NASU, SUBEB, STE, and Post Primary Schools.

Onuh, expressed that the State Civil Servants can no longer be ruled by a retiree Head of Service.

“Keeping the woman in service, when she should have retired two years ago is a disservice to the qualified and hardworking staff, which her non-retirement has killed their ambitions of reaching the successful point of their careers.

“It was ironical for the Head of Service to discard the same circular she signed; ‘that no civil servant will be given contract appointment’, only to still be enjoying the same abnormality she sought to correct.

“There are many permanent Secretaries and other qualified civil servants who can do the job even better. Being in service after her expected years of retirement is a disservice to the civil service”.

He added that “What we are saying is for the government to see reasons with workers and do the needful by allowing her to commence her retirement. The extension for her stay in service has expired and the Nigeria Labour Congress is not aware that the government has renewed her stay in office. We are appealing to the Governor to do the needful. We don’t want industrial unrest that will result from the anomie”.

Meanwhile, the organized Labour equally called on the Kogi State Government to return to the negotiation table with workers, to resolve the lingering non-implementation of the consequential adjusted minimum wage of N30,000.00, he emphasized.

Edoka lamented that Kogi State still remains amongst the few States yet to implement the new minimum wage, describing it as not acceptable in view of the rising cost of living, occasioned by inflation.

The labour leader decried the insincere attitude of the government to the minimum wage negotiation, which many times was truncated, and called on the government to meet the labour for final discussion on the issue.

Similarly, he commended the governor for his robust civil service reforms, pointing out that “In Kogi State Civil Service today, you no longer have issues of fake certificates and age falsification”.