Ajimobi Threatens Oyo Workers, Says He Won’t Pay Salaries If They Go On Strike

Oyo state governor, Abiola Ajimobi, has said he is not perturbed by the strike threat of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), vowing that any worker who goes on strike will not be paid.

The governor described the ultimatum issued by the Congress as not only surprising but unnecessary and uncalled-for.

He said he is not ready and will not review the 90 per cent income dedicated for the payment of workers salary from the Federation Account.

Advertisement

According to him, government cannot pay 62,000 workers with the money that ought to be used to maintain over 10 million citizens.

Ajimobi said, “Modern day labour union and government relationship has listed steps that must be taken. Step one is if you have any concern about anything, there is a joint negotiation committee that is made up of government and workers, you first go there to discuss with them.

“If after the discussion it does not work then you can go to the next level where the head of service and government will now appoint some people to discuss. It is when negotiations have broken down that labour can give notice of strike and not this old time labour government relationship where without discussing you will issue ultimatum to go on strike.

“It is illegal because this is a government where law must be followed and obeyed, not this culture of impunity. It is wrong to give an ultimatum to go on strike without reaching a consensus with the government.

Advertisement

“We have an agreement, there was a time we use to get close to N5 billion from the Federal Government and our IGR was like N1 billion, now everybody is aware of the situation, and now we are having N2 billion plus from Federal Government,” he said.

Leave a comment

Advertisement