Unpaid Workers Threaten To Shut Down Kings College, FGC Idoani

The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, ASCSN, on Friday protested the non-payment of workers’ salaries in two Federal Government Colleges in Lagos and Ondo States. The News Agency of Nigeria reports the colleges are the Kings College, Lagos, and the Federal Government College, Idoani, Ondo State. Alade Lawal, the Secretary General of the ASCSN, said in Lagos that union officials would ensure that education officers in the schools do not resume work. The union had earlier cautioned parents and guardians not to release their children and wards to resume classes in the affected schools. According to Mr. Lawal, the ultimatum given to the government to pay the workers’ salary, expired on Thursday. He, however, said that as at that day, government had not responded, “Until government responds to our demands, the workers will not be allowed to operate,” the secretary said. Mr. Lawal had called on the government to take urgent steps toward paying the salary of education officers outstanding since May 2016 in the schools. “Education officers in the schools will not resume classes on Thursday, September 15 unless salary owed them since May were paid by Wednesday, September 14. “Since May officers in King’s College and Federal Government College, Idoani, have been put in financial embarrassment in violation of Public Service Rules. “We are afraid that the decision, not to pay the salaries, may extend to other schools if there is no resistance from the workers and their Trade Unions. “This is also worrisome because the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Budget Office have continued to shift blames on the matter,” Mr. Lawal had said. The secretary said that the other 102 colleges have been mobilised to join the strike, if the government still refused to pay the officers in the two schools, saying, “injury to one is injury to all.’’ He said the association was still battling to ensure that arrears of salaries and allowances, owed by the last administration to some categories of officers, are settled. Mr. Lawal appealed to the government to reduce the hardship facing the workers due to poor take home pay by paying them without further delay. “The welfare of citizens should be among government priorities,” he said. He, therefore, urged the government to pay the workers to douse tension that had started to build up in all the 104 unity colleges over the issue. (NAN)