Labour rejects government Opening of Bank Account for kogi Workers

The organized labour in Kogi State has reject  the state government's unilateral  decision  to compel workers in the Public Sector to open accounts with Access Bank and Zenith Bank before they will be paid their salaries.
This was contained in a press statement jointly issued by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Joint Negotiation Council (JNC) which was made available to journalists yesterday in Lokoja.

According to the organized labour they consider this policy of government as an infringement on the fundamental human rights of workers to personal accounts with any bank of their choice, saying that this  decision may be premised on a number of factors.
They noted that labour was not convinced of the reasons adduced by the state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello over government's decision on the issue as it has the potency of compounding the hardship already faced by workers in the State.
Labour said ,"Besides, most workers already have business commitments with their current banks predating  this administration, implying that the policy will definitely set them against their banks with unpleasant consequences that they may suffer."
They organs therefore advised workers in the state to be careful in rushing to perfect the un-solicited Accounts opened for them with the Access and Zenith Banks Plc, as withdrawals within the state will take a longer time than necessary and subject them to untold hardship, while withdrawals outside the state will make the state government declare them as workers in diaspora as being captured in the current Screening Exercise.
They therefore demand for immediate reversal to the status-quo of paying workers salaries through their existing bank accounts that they have been using over time for their salaries.
On the issue of local government councils' appointment, the organized labour said they were amazed at the utter disregard by the state government to established Civil Service Rules regarding appointments at the local government councils.
Labour equally frowned at the indefinite suspension of to government civil servants in the state without recourse to established rules. "We demand for the correction of anomalies that characterized the current appointments being mad at the local government levels."
Our investigation revealed that salaries are already being paid some civil servants in the state.
Investigation by our correspondent shows that workers in the state owned Polytechnic, University, the Judiciary and the Specialists hospital have already been paid four months salaries each.