The striking workers of Ogun State, on Tuesday, vowed not to sit down and talk with any government official other than Governor Dapo Abiodun.
The workers had embarked on an indefinite strike on Tuesday, over the unremitted N82bn contributory pension deductions spanning 14 years.
Addressing journalists at the secretariat of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Ogun State Council, at Oke Ilewo, Abeokuta, the labour leaders said the strike would continue until the governor called the labour union leaders for a fruitful meeting.
They claimed that past meetings held with other government officials had brought no respite, adding that the issue under dispute was crucial to their survival and well-being.
Speaking during the press briefing, the state Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Hameed Ademola-Benco, supported by his Trade Union Congress counterpart, Comrade Akeem Lasisi and representative of the Joint Negotiating Council, stated that no amount of threat or intimidation would make them call off the strike except a concrete agreement with the governor was achieved.
Ademola-Benco said, “Yes we have been receiving calls from one government official, but I told my colleagues that we are not going to meet that person, he is our major problem.
“We want to meet only the governor, His Excellency, Dapo Abiodun. He is our employer.
“We are not employees of the Secretary to the State Government, we are not employees of the Head of Service or the Chief of Staff or any commissioner.
“We are employees of Governor Abiodun. He is the one paying our salaries every month, and he is the one we want to sit with on this matter, not any other person.”
He said the contributory pension scheme was giving the workers sleepless nights, arguing that even if it was implemented, a worker who retired on the old pension scheme could be collecting over N300,000 monthly pension while someone who retired on the contributory pension scheme of the same level would be collecting N60,000 as monthly pension.
He said according to the 2013 amended pension law of Ogun State, the commencement of the scheme was slated for July 1, 2025, whereas the government had failed to remit over N82bn contributory pension deductions of the workers in over 14 years.
The NLC chairman also said the government had failed to pay workers’ leave allowances of over eight years, saying it had repeatedly reneged to fulfil several pledges on the huge outstanding running into several billions of naira.
Comrade Lasisi said the pension scheme which came into force in 2008 was designed to fail from the outset.
He said, “The administration of Governor Gbenga Daniel which started the scheme refused to pay some months, while only nine months was paid under Governor Ibikunle Amosun’s eight-year administration, with Governor Abiodun in the last six years also not paying a dime.”
