ARMSTRONG ALLAHMAGANI, Bauchi
Bauchi State Chapter of the Joint Health Sector Union and Assembly of Health Care Professionals (JOHESU) have called off the indefinite strike action embarked upon previous day, declaring that “there won’t be peace as long as the state government continues tampering with their salaries.”
Comrade Usman Danturaki, the state secretary, told newsmen at a Press Conference held at the State’s Ministry of Finance on Friday.
Danturaki, however, noted that further negotiations are ongoing to addressing the issues once and for all.
He said the Union embarked on the strike to protest the unilateral deductions made by the state government on its June and July 2020 salaries, after several efforts made to get the attention of the government failed.
He said, “Having been convinced with the steps taken by the government prior to the commencement of the strike, coupled with ardent desire to meet our demands, JOHESU have resolved to suspend the strike action with immediate effect so as to pave way for further negotiations to continue on Monday August 10, 2020 where agreement on major issues shall be reached and signed accordingly.”
Speaking earlier, the Commissioner of Finance and Chairman Implemention Committee on new salary administration, Alhaji Umaru Adamu, said that the biggest challenges of the administration was overbloated workforce that gulps state revenues.
He said, in order to address the problem, the state government embarked on staff auditing and discreet investigation by setting up two Committees to produce a credible payroll.
The Commissioner said, “The revelations from their findings so far are startling and had confirmed the initial fears of government that indeed , there are serious infractions on government payroll at both the state and local governments with ample evidence of the existence of ghost workers, fraudulent payment allowances to ineligible staff, multiple salary payments.”
On the issue of implementing Consolidated Health Salary Structure (COHESS) to health workers, he said the cabinet committee discussed with the JOHESU union leadership in company with the leadership of Contial Labour in June when the problem was noticed.
“The committee after investigation , discovered that 20 per cent CONHESS said to have been removed from entitled workers salaries in the month of June 2020 was not done deliberately but was mistakenly removed as at the time.of preparation of their payroll,” he said.
Adamu said further that the development, which also occured with the July 2020 salaries of health workers, was also not deliberate but caused by miscommunication
“As I speak to you now the payments have commenced the union leadership is fully aware of this development,” he added.