- Seek Governor’s Intervention, Demand Confirmation Of Employment
By Amos Aar
BUSINESS activities at the Makurdi Modern Market were halted last Tuesday as casual workers of the Market Authority staged a protest over the non-payment of their salaries for the past 20 months.
The protesting staff, led by Joshua Igbangi, said they had exhausted all peaceful avenues to reach Governor Hyacinth Alia to present their grievances but to no avail.
According to Igbangi, the casual workers were left with no option but to lock the market in order to draw the governor’s attention to their plight.
“We have done everything possible to meet the governor and explain what we are going through, but nothing has happened. We are tired of being casual workers and want to be confirmed as permanent staff,” Igbangi stated.
He expressed concern that while the Alia administration claims not to owe workers, the situation of casual staff at the market contradicts that narrative.
“We are family men. We feed our families from this job. The cost of living is high. We work from morning till evening collecting revenue for the government, yet we go home empty-handed,” he lamented.
Reacting to the development, the Permanent Secretary of the Benue State Ministry of Trade and Investment, Mr. Cephas Hough, confirmed the protest but assured that normalcy had since been restored to the market.
The protest also led to heavy traffic congestion, with a long line of vehicles and motorcycles stretching from the market gate beyond the Amadu Kumasi Junction, along the Demekpe–Wadata axis.
