Plateau State has been in the unfortunate grips of an agitation by local government staff for the implementation of the new N30,000.00 minimum wage for the better part of late last year.
Since then, the staff have deployed the constitutionally sanctioned means of lawful protests to drive home their point. But the state government has remained defiant, insensitive, for reasons that are chiefly self-serving.
Pushed to the wall, the hurt and obviously wronged LG staff are now, expectedly, resorting to their last resort in order to get their just deserts.
As part of this struggle, they issued a statement recently debunking the information commissioner’s position about their just demands and strongly declared that they wouldn’t back down.
One of our takeaways from the LG staffers statement about this unfolding saga is that they are now openly admitting that they indeed aided Lalong to ‘win’ the very much disputed 2015 and 2019 gubernatorial elections.
The first impulse of Plateau citizens is to categorically declare to the LG staffers that it’s simply the natural law of karma taking its course here. But Plateau people – including the PDP which the Lalong government is inordinately blaming for this just struggle – are humane and understand the worth of local governments in the general wellbeing of our ordinary citizens at the grassroots.
In fact, denying local government staff the minimum wage is simply akin to denying majority of our people in villages food, school fees, comfort, etc., because there’s no family in the state that doesn’t depend on these civil servants for their overall survival, livelihoods and wellbeing.
Thus, we, Plateau citizens, must strive within our capabilities to empathise with these victims and, most importantly, show the clueless Lalong administration that, indeed, it must not abdicate its responsibility to these hardworking citizens, who are breadwinners in our various local government areas.
Their just demands must be met. The Lalong government must not also callously sidestep this responsibility the way it has done with regard to roads, infrastructure, security, general governance, etc., in our state which has brought Plateau to the odious point of absolute stasis and disrepute.
We must categorically tell the Lalong administration that the local government staffers’ agitation is right because Plateau as a whole is now being negatively affected by their not being paid the N30,000.00 minimum wage.
Last words: Lalong and his government would be making a big mistake if they misconstrue that Plateau people are not solidly behind the local government staffers.
Chris Gyang, chrisgyang01@gmail.com
