Worried by the non-payment of workers’ salaries by some state governments, the Nigeria Civil Service Union (NCSU) has lamented that bailout funds released by the Federal Government to states to enable them pay salaries have been diverted.

The union also called for the abolition of the security votes to governors, describing it as a conduit pipe.

National President of the union, Comrade Kiri Mohammed, who dropped the hint during the special delegates conference of NCSU holding in Kaduna State, said such unaccounted sum could have been used to pay workers salaries.

Comrade Mohammed lamented that the excuses given for irregular payment of salaries of workers had always been the fall in crude oil prices, stressing that bailout funds released to states were however diverted.

He advised that for Nigeria to survive the economic recession arising from the cut in crude oil price, government at all levels must identify other areas of revenue generation like agriculture, solid minerals as well as tourism development.

“Organised labour has resolved not to allow workers salaries to be sacrificed on the altar of challenges of the economy which is not their making. We have maintained that the cost of governance be drastically cut down to free resources for development. “Hundreds of billions of naira frittered away in the name of governance by public office holders, for instance the security vote which is an unaccountable drain on public resources is enough to pay workers salaries for several months,” he said.

Comrade Mohammed, who is also a Deputy President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), said it is unacceptable for state governors to maintain official aircraft and helicopters with huge sum of money from the treasury.

•Text courtesy of LEADERSHIP.

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