In a bid to sympathize with Kogi State Civil Servants after a Civil Servant committed suicided ‘as a result of non-payment of salary for 9 months’, Nigerian Senators donated 1,280 bags of rice to Civil Servants in the State. Yet many Nigerians did not seem impressed as the gesture was returned with suspicion and criticism from many who see it as a political move.
Senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District, Dino Melaye addressing the workers said he drew the attention of the Senators to the plight of Workers in the State, following the news of the Director who committed suicide as a result of non-payment of salaries.
“I’m happy to report to you that my colleagues in the Senate have immediately responded by donating bags of rice and other essential items to the Workers in order to cushion the biting effects of non-payment of their salaries by the Kogi State Government.
“The donation, which amounted to 1,280 bags of rice as of today (Wednesday), and others, that will follow later, will be handed over to the Kogi State Chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress for onward distribution to the most vulnerable Workers who need immediate assistance”.
National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), Kogi State Chapter, under the leadership of Oladele Nihi, in a statement said the action of the Senators were unguided and a desperate move to toil with the collective sensibility of the good people of Kogi and not only the Civil Servants.
“It is being orchestrated by primordial instincts to paint Kogi in the dark light for cheap and selfish political gains. It is an insult on us.
“Kogi might be feeling the brunt of the economic crisis that is currently bedevilling the whole country, but that does not mean a group of people with inordinate ambition should sit in Abuja and paint Kogi like a Somalia of some sort.
He tasked the Senate on being fair and non-partisan, in attending to sensitive matters, adding that they should have sent delegations to verify the true state of things before taking actions.
Many linked the gesture to the on going political battle between Senator Melaye and the Governor of Kogi State. In a strange turn of event and with a reason even more strange, the Kogi Youth Movement for Credible Leadership protested against the donation saying
“If this act by the Senators was done in good fate, the donation should have been done for civil servants nationwide.”
The group terms the donation of 1,280 bags of rice, valued at about 15,120,000 naira at the lowest estimate, a mockery, wickedness and hatred of/for the Civil Servants who are beneficiaries.
