Kogi workers serve strike notice, say ‘discussion with govt has broken down’

Academic and non-academic staff in Kogi-owned tertiary institutions will commence a five-day warning strike from January 16, the Joint Action Committee (JAC) announced on Thursday in Lokoja.
The workers, under the aegis of JAC of the tertiary institutions, said discussion between its leadership and the state government, led by the Secretary to the State Government, Dr Folashade Ayoade, had broken down.
The communiqué issued by JAC after its meeting was signed by its Chairman, Mr Henry Tolufashe and Secretary, Mr Akubo Odoma.
According to the communiqué, the meeting failed to resolve the issue of its members affected by the screening and verification exercise held at the College of Education,
“The SSG demanded that JAC give the government two weeks to publish the names of affected workers by the review committee, but the JAC said no.
“An injury to one is an injury to all.”
The JAC advised government to give all uncleared workers a final opportunity to defend themselves before an appeal committee within a period of one month.
It said that all established fraudulent practices should be prosecuted, while  membership of the appeal committee should not include members of the current review committee and include JAC representatives
“ Since there was no directive from government on specific banks to operate as salary accounts, declaring such categories of workers as ghost workers is unacceptable as they should be cleared and paid immediately,’’ the council demanded.
JAC observed that the promise of government to pay all genuine workers on or before Dec. 20 last year did not materialize, as many genuine workers were yet to receive their salary.