The Rivers State Government has said the NLC structure, which was built pro bono by the Government for Labour under going general inspections and structural integrity evaluation or tests before the expiration of the defects liability period.
The Special Adviser to Rivers State Governor on Special Projects, Mr Dax George-Kelly, who is in charge of delivering the Secretariats of both the NLC and TUC chapters in Rivers State made this known on Tuesday.
The statement from George-Kelly read, “As you may be aware, the NLC structure which was built pro bono by the Rivers State Government for Labour was completed and commissioned only a few months ago by the Bureau and it is our normal practice to carry out general inspections and structural integrity evaluation or tests before the expiration of the defects liability period. It is this activity that precedes the release of the 5% retention fees due any contractor 6 months or 1 year upon practical completion of the project. This is not new to every contractor or client in the construction industry.
“In this case however, the contractor himself reported to the Bureau a structural defect which must be immediately fixed to avoid further deterioration/risks of incidents. The Bureau had to act expeditiously by giving him a go-ahead to conduct a thorough structural integrity evaluation in liaison with the Bureau’s in-house consultants; and of course this can only be done by first sealing off the place, because the place can not be in use while the exercise is on.
“It is uncharitable and ungrateful for anyone under the aegis of the NLC to misconstrue this exercise for a product of an imagined imbroglio between labour and government. This is sad!
“It is worthy to mention that the subject matter being discussed was graciously provided for the union as a result the cordial relationship that exist between labour and government and I’m not in doubt of the continuity of that cordiality. The proponents of that outlandish news in our own thinking can best be described as UNCHARITABLE, UNGRATEFUL AND REBELLIOUS.
“The land was not revoked by government; the building was not seized by government. The Bureau is only carrying out it’s routine duty in ensuring that all infrastructure it provides are habitable and safe for use by our people and it’s our practice to seal off buildings when such exercises are being carried out.
It will be recalled that on Monday, the media was awash with reports planted by Mrs Beatrice Itubo , the NLC chairperson for Rivers state chapter that it’s secretariat was closed down by the Rivers state led government of Gov Nyesom Ezenwo Wike – CON over the issues surrounding the new minimum wage bill being adopted by various states across Nigeria.
Unfortunately, as is known with our media houses in Nigeria, they hardly ever get to find out before publishing stories.
The truth is; Mrs Beatrice Itubo who had expired her tenure as both NLC chairperson and also as a civil servant had refused to an earlier MoU signing since October 2019 to enable the state government implement the new minimum wage bill as stipulated because of the following reasons ;
1: She had begged the government to backdate the MoU to April 2019 when her service year and tenure ended so she can also benefit from it via levies and dues usually paid by civil service people to NLC. Monies running into almost N1billion are raked in by the NLC chapter and never used for anything except to feed the avarices of these NLC chapter big wigs who concern themselves with acquisition of properties etc.
2: NLC Rivers state has since this administration enjoyed a good relationship with the government and the government has in turn acceded to all their requests to always deduct the levies and dues before payment of salaries to workers prior to this date. These monies have always been paid directly to the account domiciled with the state chapter and yet nothing is done with it to further give value to the direct labour force of the state. Upon realizing that she will not have her way with getting the government to deduct these levies from the new minimum wage and also not being able to get the government to backdate its implementation date to April 2019 as demanded, Mrs Beatrice Itubo decided to go on offensive and accuse the state government of sealing off the secretariat which was built by the state government and gifted to the state chapter.
3: Mrs Beatrice Itubo also is aware that the state government is still withholding the statutory 5% retainer fee for building contractors which is only paid after 12 months of a project completion upon which a certificate of no defective structure is issued and the structure certified safe. The building is well within the 12 months certification period which is what is being done now and yet she went to the media to continue her offensive against the state government with hopes to incite the workers against the state.
4: January 31,2020, all rivers state civil servants received their full salaries in line with the new minimum wage without the deductions of levies and dues and Mrs Beatrice Itubo feels that it will be impossible to get them to pay these dues unless the state government aides her in deducting it before paying the salaries. These are the reasons behind her recent attacks on the state government and its governor.
A fact check with a few civil servants in the state reveals that they all received their full salaries without any deductions of levies or dues which commenced this January 2020.
Mrs Beatrice Itubo should infact come clean and tell both public and the civil service force of Rivers state what she has been doing with all the monies deducted as levies and dues and paid to the state chapter of NLC instead of running amok on the media and trying to incite the civil service against the state government
No comments:
Post a Comment