Civil servants in Kogi State have protested against the non-release of N50.8 billion bailout funds approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to offset backlog of salaries owed them.

The civil servants today shut their offices and boycotted work.

The development was in compliance with a directive jointly issued to the civil servants by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC).

While briefing reporters, the NLC Chairman, Comrade Onuh Edoka, said that the public servants were made to boycott work to register their grievances to President Muhammadu Buhari over the non release of the fund by the CBN on account of political wrangling by politicians in the state.

He pointed out that the CBN had no reason to hold on to the bailout fund despite the requirements made by the state.

In his remarks, the State Chairman of the NUT, Comrade Abdullahi Suleiman, lamented that the hope of basic education staff in the state was dashed, going by the present development.

The President of the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) in the state, Comrade Tom Abutu, nonetheless, also expressed concern that local government workers in the state were being owed upward of 18 months salaries.

Contrary to speculations by some persons that Kogi State did not apply for the fund, Governor Idris Wada, who spoke to Channels Television, said that the state was one of the first states that applied and that all requested document had been submitted, but the fund was yet to be released.

In the meantime, labour leaders in the state had called on federal and state authorities to help resolve the situation.

•Adapted from a Channels TV report. Photo shows Governor Wada.

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