The Kaduna State Council of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) has appealed to the State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai to pay the July salary and wages of workers under the employment of the state.

While declaring support to the ongoing verification exercise, the union frowned at the delay in the payment of workers’ salaries and wages, which it said has brought tremendous hardship to the workers and their families.

Addressing reporters at the end of its Executive Council Meeting, the State TUC Chairman, Shehu Mohammed, also picked holes in the ongoing biometric verification of the state civil servants by the state government, saying the non-decentralisation and timing of the exercise resulted to the unfortunate suicide attack at Sabon Gari Local Government Secretariat that claimed the lives of their members.

The workers also alleged that government did not carry their leadership along before embarking on the screening exercise.

With the verification exercise still going on, however, the workers are saying that it should not affect the payment of their salaries.

As government tries to sanitise the civil service, they also told the Governor not to sack any genuine civil servant on account of downsizing or cutting down the number of ministries from 19 to 13.

Earlier, the State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, had ordered for an audit of the state civil servants.

He explained that the aim was to identify the actual number of workers on the payroll of government and also identify the ghost workers among them.

The Governor, during his maiden state broadcast, announced that the sum of 120 million naira had been recovered from the verification. (Channels TV)

•Photo shows Governor El-Rufai.