Jigawa workers refuse to return to work after holidays

Civil servants in Jigawa State have refused to return to work after the Christmas holidays declared by the Federal Government.

Newsmen visited the State Secretariat and offices of other government agencies and observed that most of the civil servants didn’t report back to work as of Wednesday.

The Federal Government has declared Monday and Tuesday as work-free days to celebrate Christmas.

It was however observed that even the busy Kiyawa Road was deserted compared with normal working days.

Some restaurants are not operating while others are operating half services.

Khadija, a restaurant owner, said the situation is normal whenever there is a break in the middle of the week.

According to her, the restaurant usually operate half services during such periods because most of the civil servants have travelled and may not come back until the following week.

Malam Musa, a civil servant, said whenever public holidays come in the middle of the week, the whole week is paralyzed because most civil servants may not come back until the following week.

“The transport fare is costly and even when you resume you may not find anything to do.

“People are suffering and the government still does nothing to cushion the pain people are going through, no minimum wage, no wage award, no palliative,” the civil servant added.