In their fight for ten months’ worth of unpaid wages, a group of employees in Taraba State, who have been controversially dubbed “ghost workers,” have turned to spiritual tactics.
Christians and Muslims alike flocked to Jalingo’s Al-Huda Mosque on Friday for special prayers, pleading with God to alleviate their unbearable toil.
The group, spearheaded by Abdurrauf Sani, pleaded with Agbu Kefas to take immediate action to resolve their predicament.
Six workers have died and another is fighting hepatitis as a result of the workers’ months of financial hardship, according to Sani. The workers’ medical and living costs have also skyrocketed.
He vented his anger at the fact that they had exhausted all other avenues for formal resolution and were now forced to turn to God for assistance.
“We are not ghost workers; we are staff of the Taraba State Government,” Sani adamantly stated, demanding an explanation for the differential treatment they were receiving.
He went on to say that on Sunday, the group will be praying at the Gospel House Church to maintain its spiritual approach and to stress their demand for full payment of the unpaid salaries.
The pain that our folks are going through is getting intolerable. That is why we have gathered here, he added, to ask God to intervene.
Usman Bakari prayed for the impacted employees and called on the state government to address their problems quickly in his sermon. But he did praise Kefas’s work on security and education, especially the expansion of free tuition, and he urged the people to keep backing the administration.
As impacted individuals persist in demanding acknowledgement and compensation for their entitlements, the incident highlights mounting worries about workers’ welfare in the state.