Dozens of angry security guards and cleaners at Yariman Bakura Specialist Hospital, Gusau, Zamfara State, yesterday protested over nonpayment of their 11 months' salaries.
The workers, who are staff of private companies, Taula Security Guards and AIB Cleaners, locked out both patients and staff of the hospital at the main entrance of the facility during the protest.
Daily Trust observed that the medical director of the hospital, other staff and patients on emergency were left stranded at the gates after the protesting workers blocked the main entrance of the hospital.
An assistant supervisor of the guards, Alhaji Abubakar Abubakar, said they were protesting out of frustration as they were owed salaries for almost a year now.
"I have six children and I was left with no option but to look for other sources of income to bridge the gap in my expenditures. I have not received my N15,000 monthly salary for 11 months now and this is causing serious difficulties for many families," he said.
A representative of AIB Cleaning Services, Alhaji Babangida Mainasara, said the company had complained severally to both the management of the hospital and the state government, but their complaints had not been attended to.
However, the Police Commissioner, Muhammad Shehu Dalijan, addressed the angry workers and promised to follow up their case with the companies.
He then persuaded the protesters to allow patients and staff access to the hospital, assuring that he would invite the management of their companies for discussion to address the matter.
Meanwhile, aggrieved workers of the Ondo State-owned Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology (OAUSTHEC) in Okitipupa on Monday protested over the non-payment of the N35,000 wage award by the state government.
The workers, under the auspices of the Joint Action Committee (JAC), almost disrupted the 2nd convocation of the institution when Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa's was there for the ceremony.
Daily Trust reports that the protesters carried placards with various inscriptions such as, "All we are saying, pay us wage award; "We deserve N35,000 wage award, pay us"; "Wage award is our right don't deny us,"; "We patronize the same market, pay us N35,000 wage award," among several others.
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Dayo Temola, the Chairman of JAC, who spoke during the protest, decried the attitude of the state government towards the plight of the tertiary institution workers.
Amid the protest, Governor Aiyedatiwa released the capital grant of N1.2 billion in the 2024 budget to OAUSTHEC for the speedy completion of abandoned buildings of the School of Science and others.
Governor Aiyedatiwa, who announced the grant during the convocation ceremony, said the institution's monthly subvention of N91 million would also be given due consideration to enhance the operations of the school.
