Civil servants in Nasarawa have begun an indefinite strike over Governor Abdullahi Sule’s refusal to implement the N30,000 new minimum wage.

In a bid to rein in the workers, Mr Sule invoked the no-work-no-pay policy.

The workers on Tuesday began an indefinite industrial action to press home their demand for full implementation of N30,000 national minimum wage and staff promotion, among others.

The governor’s directive is contained in a statement signed by Muhammad Ubandoma-Aliyu, Secretary to the State Government.

The governor also directed permanent secretaries to open attendance registers in all ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) to implement the no-work-no-pay policy effectively.

He said the government had also taken a position to seek legal interpretation of the action of the civil servants through the industrial court.

The governor also directed security agencies to deploy their personnel to man all MDAs in the state to avert the breakdown of law and order.

The governor claimed that the workers’ unions prevented civil servants not participating in the strike to enter their offices.

Mr Sule, however, expressed his government’s willingness to continue to dialogue with the workers’ unions to find amicable solutions to their grievances.

He, therefore, commended members and officials of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) for refusing to participate in the strike.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) had directed the civil servants to start an indefinite strike on Tuesday.

Their grievances included partial implementation of the new minimum wage without recourse to due process of collective bargaining and the lack of implementation of promotions since 2008.

Others are lack of annual increments, lack of training, and confirmation of casual workers’ appointments, some of which have been working for more than 10 years, among others.

(NAN)