Oyo workers protest, lock state Secretariat, demand palliatives, others

<p>The Oyo State workers, on Monday, locked the state secretariat in Ibadan to demand palliatives, upward review of pension allowances and payment of salary deduction.</p>, <p>Participating in the protest are workers and pensioners under the banners of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) and their affiliates.</p>, <p>Led by their union leaders, the workers are also demanding payment of leave bonuses, payment of gratuities to retirees who have stagnated since the year 2021and release of promotion letters for the Years 2021 and 2022.</p>, <p>No government official is yet to address the protesting workers at of time of filling this report.</p>, <p>Civil servants who hoped to resume work on Monday morning met locked gates, with the union leaders insisting that they only want Governor Seyi Makinde, and no government official, to address their demands.</p>, <p>Speaking on their demands, Chairman, Oyo TUC, Mr Bosun Olabiyi said it was baffling that over six months deductions were still being withheld by the state government.</p>, <p>He added that the protest was also to demand an upward review of pensions, noting that some pensioners receive N300 per month with the last review done in the year 2007.</p>, <p>Olabiyi said: “We are here to see the governor. We believe that our demands are before him. There is six months deduction that has been withheld by the state government. Deductions that are supposed to go to cooperatives, housing, union dues, taken from workers’ salaries, have been withheld.</p>, <p>“This issue of deductions has been on for almost a year. At the January prayer meeting, he promised to pay two months and that two months was not even paid until the end of the month when there was some agitation. Since then, it has again been accumulating.</p>, <p>“Pensioners in Oyo State are really suffering. There are some pensioners still collecting N300 per month. The last time a pension was reviewed was