To help alleviate the financial strain on workers caused by rising transport costs due to the elimination of the fuel subsidy, the Kebbi State Government has committed to implementing the N70,000 transport allowance that was introduced by the Federal Government.
In an interview with state employees on Tuesday, Governor Nasir Idris promised that his administration will be ready to give the aid.
To appease the employees’ concerns, Idris revealed that the state Head of Service had appointed a committee to devise the allowance’s implementation details.
A group I appointed to report to the Head of Service is already hard at work. If the federal government were to raise worker salaries, Kebbi State would be one of the first to adopt the policy, he declared.
To help public sector workers cope with the increasing cost of living and transport, the federal government approved a N70,000 transport stipend; the Kebbi State chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) demanded its implementation.
But the allowance has caused a schism among union bosses; Festus Osifo of the Trade Union Congress and Joe Ajaero of the National Labour Congress have publicly voiced their disagreement with the federal government’s N70,000 transport relief package.
Osifo retaliated after Ajaero lambasted the TUC under his leadership for failing to take part in talks over the N70,000 travel allowance, claiming that the union was powerless to represent its members in such negotiations.
Critics in Nigeria have pointed to their public feud as evidence that the country’s organised labour is fragmented.
Rufai Oseni, host of Arise Television, remarked that Ajaero and Osifo ought to be embarrassed.