Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has vowed to always prioritise welfare of workers in the state.
He made this promise while delivering an address at the 5th Triennial Delegates Conference of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, Rivers State Council in Port Harcourt on Thursday.
The governor also assured the state civil servants that he will always pay their salaries promptly, noting that despite the dwindling funds from different sources, his administration has remained one of the states of the country to have paid workers’ salaries up to June 2016.
He said: “We have paid workers salaries up to date. We will continue to pay workers’ salaries promptly”
Represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Kenneth Kobani, the governor debunked sponsored propaganda by the opposition that the state owed workers.
He explained that the state government was involved in the conduct of biometric verification of its workers and only civil servants already verified have been paid up to June.
The governor added that once a civil servant is verified, he/she gets his outstanding salaries.
He assured the organised labour of the support of his administration in their activities. He urged them to always assist the state government to deliver development projects to the people.
He said: “The Rivers State Government will support you in your labour movement in every way that we can. You can all attest to the fact that since we came on board as a worker friendly government, many of the problems inherited from the previous administration have been resolved”.
He added: “We are in the process of eliminating those people that are eating your monies from the payroll. So far, I can tell you that there are people collecting salaries from 4 places. It is quite painful what has been going on. You see how we started; we will ensure that we continue to fight to the end”.
The 5th Triennial Delegates Conference of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Rivers State Council in Port Harcourt had as its theme: “Democracy, Human Development and Social Inclusion in Nigeria.”
Earlier in his remark, the outgoing State Chairman of the TUC, Rivers State Council, Comrade Hyginus Chika Oneugbu said the Union has been transformed under his leadership.
He urged the incoming leaders of the Union to always maintain good relationship with the State Government and Corporate Organizations.
