Striking Kogi Workers Are Political Civil Servants – Gov Bello

Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has described striking workers in the state as “political civil servants”.

Speaking on Monday with State House correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, Governor Bello said his administration was keeping up with the payment of salaries despite the economic hardship everywhere.

“Those workers that are on strike are political civil servants; the real civil servants are coming to work. We are trying our best to keep up with the payment of salaries. There is no denying the fact that the economy is biting hard everywhere and you will recall that I met four-month salary backlog, I cleared it and today we are keeping up to date. We owe August and September as we speak.

“We are up to date in terms of salaries and those that come to work we shall pay them and those that don’t come to work, the no-work-no-pay rule shall surely apply,” he said.

When asked of his opinion about those saying his government was not doing enough to promote tourism in Kogi, Bello said “It’s only those who are blind that will not see what we are doing… Before you attract tourists to your state, you have to secure it.

“There must also be infrastructure. All these are being taken care of as we speak… Investors are coming in in their numbers. They are so many that are coming. It’s not out of place to say they see that the place is secure.

“The only thing is that the good people of Kogi state should continue to be patient with this government. Things are hard generally and we are trying our best, and that is why we are transparent in everything that we do.

“I’m sure you are aware of the periodic publishing of our accounts, very soon we are going to publish all the salaries that we have paid to workers since inception in newspapers for people to see it. All the noise about Kogi not paying salaries will be in public domain,” he added.