By Abdullahi Zuru
As being practised over the years, Nigerian workers joined their counterpart globally in celebrating the annual international workers’ day, which comes with mixed feelings among the membership of the labour union.
The annual event is aimed at interfacing with the stakeholders with a view to assessing the relationship between the workers and employers of labour, is always dominated by claims and counterclaims between the labour leadership and the government on whether or not the needs of the workers have been addressed.
Be that as it may, the leadership of the labour in Kebbi State has every reason to joyfully celebrate this year’s event in view of Comrade Governor Nasir Idris’s demonstrated concern for their welfare and provision of conducive working atmosphere for maximum productivity.
Comrade Idris uncommon priority given to the public servants related programmes and policies was not expected, considering the fact that the man at the helm of affairs was not only an active unionist but also served as the National President of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) and Deputy National President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC).
While in active Unionism, he consistently argued against the erroneous perception of workers in some quarters of having an insignificant percentage of the country’s population each time they requested for their fair share of the national cake.
He always maintained that workers deserve favourable consideration considering their sacrifices in ensuring socio-economic development of the country and the fact that many, particularly in the north, have between one and four wives and many children and defenders
At the time he assumed office as the Governor of Kebbi state after recoding a convincing victory at the polls, there was not only inadequate office accommodation for the civil servants, the existing structures were either outdated or dilapidated.
As a matter of priority, the Comrade Governor awarded the contract for the completion of the ultra modern Secretariat complex, abandoned for about twenty years but now completed, fully equipped and furnished with the capacity of accommodating over twenty seven Ministries, Departments and Agencies in addition to a two thousand capacity conference hall.
The Secretariats of the twenty-one local governments of state that suffered serious neglect over the years have now been renovated and fully furnished.
While the provision of conducive working environment for workers was being attended to, Comrade Governor Nasir was confronted with the inherited backlog of retired civil servants, gratuity, death benefits, monthly pension, and annual leave grant, amounting to billions of naira.
With apparent moral justification and human feelings, the Comrade Governor not only cleared the backlog but also sustained the payment of all the workers’ rights and privileges as of when due, including the payment of seventy five thousand reviewed minimum wage.
The workers’ governor revived the payment of furniture allowance for the permanent secretaries and introduced medical financial support for workers with critical health challenges.
When he turned to his primary constituency, the teaching profession, Comrade Nasir NUT, the name he was popularly called, exempted teachers from the civil service rule that stipulated the retirement age of workers at thirty years of service or sixty years of age and added five years to each category. He argued that most of the teachers were only retired but still have much to offer for the development of education at both the primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions in the state.
In the health sector, Comrade Nasir noticed continued exodus of medical doctors from the state hospitals to other tertiary health institutions in the country as a result of poor renumeration.
He did not only increase their salary to the same level with their counterpart but also absolved all the medical staff that have been on casual engagement in the state of the civil service.
Therefore, there is no gain saying that civil servants in Kebbi State have never had it so good compared to the previous situation over the years.
This year’s international WORKERS DAY is not only worthy of celebrating in Kebbi State, but should also be used by the workers to appreciate, support and honour one of their own for justifying the confidence reposed in him by the electorates in Kebbi State.
Zuru is Special Adviser on Communication and Strategy to Kebbi State Governor..
