Wole Balogun,  Ado Ekiti

Executives of the labour unions in Ekiti State, at the weekend, urged Governor Kayode Fayemi to use the Paris Club refund to pay workers’ salary arrears, gratuities and pensions.

The union leaders said the labour would be interested in the use of the money once it is paid by the Federal Government.

Speaking with newsmen in Ado Ekiti, Sola Adigun  and Kolapo Olatunde of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) respectively, said minimum wage was a law and Ekiti State Government must prove to the whole world that it can pay it.

The labour leaders said Paris Club refund provides another opportunity for government to clear the backlog of unpaid salaries, saying though the arrears were inherited from the previous administration, government is a continuum.

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Adigun, who said the issue of minimum wage ought to have been dealt with three years ago, declared: “We don’t want delay tactics, we want to appeal to the Federal Government that before the end of May the guidelines, the template must be ready.

“This is what the states are using as excuse to delay the payment of the minimum wage to their workers,” he said.

On the rumour that market women were already gearing up to increase prices of commodities, the union leaders appealed to Ekiti royal fathers to rein on the market women not to increase the prices of their goods and services. Thirty thousands naira is just a pittance, we appeal to them not to increase price so that workers can have real values for their wages,” he said.

The NLC chairman urged the Federal Government to guard the sources of revenue jealously.