A crucial meeting between the Bayelsa State Government and labour leaders ended on Saturday, with the leadership of labour requesting for more time to hold further consultations with its members to properly articulate and consider the various options initiated by the government to address the payment of workers’ salaries.
During the meeting, Governor Henry Seriake Dickson said that the issue of sanitizing the payroll system in the state, remained a major priority of the government to check future delays in the payment of workers’ salaries.
According to him, to resolve the lingering delay in the payment of salaries of civil servants, labour should be prepared to collaborate with the government in its current efforts at sanitizing the system.
Dickson said the intention of the government was to establish a workable system that will stand the test of time, adding that, if properly handled, it will put the issue payroll and other fraudulent practices associated with the civil service at the State and Local Government levels to a final rest.
While commending labour for their understanding and patience “during this difficult period”, he emphasised that the government has set up a judicial commission of inquiry, to validate the authentic workforce of the State, with a view to expunging the ghost workers’ syndrome from the payroll system for the good of the state.
Dickson called on labour to assist the state government in its aggressive tax drive, adding that, with an improved internally generated revenue, the government would be able to pay salaries and meet other obligations to the people.
He explained that, the government embarked on the international cargo airport and other infrastructure development projects to attract investment to shore up the revenue profile of the state.
“With an improved internally generated revenue through aggressive tax drive and the massive infrastructural development of the state such as the cargo airport Bayelsa will get there”, he stated.
Meanwhile, Dickson has signed the 2016 Appropriation and the Child Rights Bills into law.
Assenting to the bills at the Government House, Yenagoa, Dickson expressed the hope that the country’s economic situation would improve to enable the government make projections in its budgeting provisions.
The governor, according to a statement by his Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Daniel Iworiso-Markson, commended workers in the state for their patience and understanding over the non-payment of salaries, noting that the government has been meeting with labour leaders on the way forward to resolving the problem.
Dickson expressed delight that the new Child Rights Bill would offer protection for children of the state, stressing that, anyone caught violating the rights of children would be prosecuted according to the provisions of the law.
He commended the leadership of the House of Assembly for their hard work in considering the bill as well as the enforcement component embedded in the document and expressed the hope that with the law in place, the rate of child abuse would be minimized.
Presenting the bills to Dickson, Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mr. Konbowei Benson, explained that the Child Rights Bill was sent to the House on March 2 this year and was passed on April 28.
He explained that the Child Rights Bill had earlier been presented to the State Assembly twice in 2004 and 2007 but, was not signed into law before Dickson assumed office in 2012.
