He noted that the political leaders are therefore not exonerated from the hardship in the country.
Yahaya, whom Deputy Governor Dr Manassah Jatau represented, disclosed this on Tuesday during the beginning of a two-day protest organised by the Nigeria Labour Congress in Benue State.
The governor who doubles as Chairman, Northern States Governors’ Forum noted that politicians were not oblivious to the hardship in the land, adding that the protest letter presented by the workers union would be submitted to the president as requested.
“We here are not exonerated from what you are suffering from. As a good leader, whatever your subordinates are facing is what you are facing. I can tell you that we are together.
“The letter is addressed to our father I can assure you as good messengers and as a post office. However, I want to thank everyone that came here for the peaceful conduct,” Yahaya added.
He disclosed that the state government has prioritised the welfare of workers, adding that about N5.2bn has been earmarked for payment of gratuities to state and Local Government Area retirees.
Earlier, the state NLC Chairman, Yusuf Bello, while delivering a letter to the state government for submission to President Bola Tinubu, decried food insecurity amid the removal of fuel subsidy.
Bello, who led members from the Labour House to Pantami Township Stadium urged the Federal Government to suspend its ongoing projects to mitigate the suffering of workers, adding that security of lives is attained when there is satisfaction.
According to him, following perceived paucity of resources the available funds should be redirected to cushioning the challenges of workers.
Bello said, “The removal of fuel subsidy has caused the hard condition we found ourselves in. People are just moving without knowing where to go because of hunger which is biting. We are here to present the displeasure of the working people and the generality of the people of Nigeria. If you can recall, we had insisted that before the subsidy is removed there should be certain measures to cushion the effect. There is no plan to cushion the effect as it stands now, the common man can’t have two square meals per day, and even those trying to cope with the situation, it’s hard for them to eat twice.
“We are presenting our grievances to the government because we created the wealth and since we created the wealth, we reserve the right to eat from it even if it requires the government to suspend any project to channel income to food security.”
