With the resumption of schools for the 2017/2018 academic session and the yuletide season fast approaching one wonders how workers that are being owed several months backlog of salaries can cope with taking care of themselves, and their children’s education requirements, such as the payment of school fees and the provision of text books and writing materials for them in order to enhance the effective teaching and learning of the pupils and students, knowing that today’s readers are tomorrow’s leaders; which also point to the fact that the youths of today are the leaders of tomorrow.
Having this in mind it will be most ideal for all hands to be on deck in making and building a viable and quality development of our educational sector and the future of the Nigeria child. Majority of these workers are of the opinion that most of their leaders in government do not even know the severe hardship in the state and the country, a situation which they described as unfortunate.
During a visit to the Secretariat of the Ika South Local Government Area, recently, by Ika Weekly Newspaper reporters to get the views of some workers at the council on how they have been coping with nonpayment of their monthly salaries for over ten months, and also to find out if there are plans to offset the back log of the salaries owed the workers by the council authorities, it was quite interesting getting their reactions as most of them vehemently refused to speak with the press for fear of being victimized in case they were caught chatting with newsmen. However, some of the workers later agreed to chat with the reporters on the condition of anonymity. Most of them in their reaction frowned at the insensitivity of the leadership both at the state and local level to the sufferings of their workers who are being owed several months of salaries.
According to some of the workers, they wondered how somebody who is hungry will be happy to continue with a person at the helm of affairs who has refused to pay their salary and has not shown concern in alleviating their pains by paying them their salaries to take care of their requirements and provide for their families. Another group of workers also expressed their dismay on the failure of the ruling party in the state and local government to take care of the welfare of their workers. They advised the ruling party in the state to seat up and put their house in order, or they will lose woefully to the opposition party in the next election saying that a hungry man is an angry man; hence will not want the continuation of a person or party that has given them bitter pills which are quite hard to swallow.