The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have decried that workers in Kogi state have been reduced to beggars, following the failure of the state government to pay their salaries and allowances being owed “for a period of three to twenty-two months.”

The labour unions on Sunday also appealed to workers in the State not to see suicide as a way out of the current hardship imposed on them as a result of non-payment of their salaries.

The state Chairman of the NLC, Mr Onu Edoka, who made the appeal in Lokoja, the state capital, cautioned the workers against taking extreme actions because the tough time would soon be over.

Edoka, who was reacting to the suicide of a director in the state, Mr Edward Soje on Oct. 16 as a result of financial hardship, insisted that taking one’s life should not be an option.

Edoka further revealed that many workers and pensioners had died due to non-payment of their salary and pensions by the state government.

According to him, many workers in the state have had their ailments aggravated as a result of lack of salary.

“Workers are walking the streets of Lokoja like beggars because their salaries and allowances have not been paid for a period of three to twenty-two months by the government,” the state TUC and NLC said in a joint statement.

The statement signed by Olakunle Faniyi and Kolawole James, state secretaries of NLC and TUC, also described the publication of workers names and salary figures as a wrong step.

“The security implication of this very wrong step is that criminals could get hold of this document and begin to trace the workers whose names government has published,” the statement added.