Chairman of the Kogi State chapter of the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN), Comrade Gabriel Amari, has cried out over the alleged coercion of workers to accept percentage salary payment for April.

He alleged his members and those of other unions in the state were being coerced by the Directors of Local Government Administration (DLGS) in the 21 LGAs to accept “a dummy that the state government had directed a reduction in the already ridiculous 50 percent salary paid to LG workers in the state.”

He described the attempt to use the governor’s name to bare more hardship on local government workers as wicked and inhuman.

He expressed reservation at the alleged directive, saying that it was not only a manipulation by the DLGs to further impoverish local government workers i the state and an unfortunate way of dragging the name of the State Government into the mud.

The plan, he said, is totally unacceptable to council workers in the state.

He argued there was no reduction in the monthly allocation of the state that could warrant any percentage salary payments, stressing that the DLGs should stop hiding under the guise of COVID-19 to deny workers in the local government their rights amidst the hardship in the country.

According to him: ”If the state government is not directing the Accountant General to pay percentage salary payment to state workers, why should DLDGs think of this unpopular and inhuman move against the overstretched and impoverished LG workers?”

He lamented the plight of council health workers, noting despite their vulnerability and dangers in the line of duties, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, there are no PPEs or incentives to encourage them.

He lauded the commitment, patience and resilience of the council workers, especially their health counterparts, by called on the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and on the 21 DLGS in the state, to desist from ‘dragging the name’ of the state government ‘into the mud,’ by immediately putting to rest any alleged plan to pay percentage salary to the council workers in the state.

Efforts to get the reaction by the State Government on the issue however proved abortive.

Calls to the Commissioner for Information and Communication, Mr. Kingsley Fanwo, went unanswered.

He also didn’t respond to messages sent to him on WhatsApp.