Students urge employers to pay April salaries ahead of Ramadan | EduCeleb
EduCeleb
22nd April 2020
The Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN) in Lagos State has appealed to government as well as private establishments to consider early payment of April salary.
The Amir, MSSN Lagos, Dr. Saheed Ashafa in a statement, noted that timely payment of the April salary became expedient due to the lockdown.
He added that early payment would enable Muslim workers make provision for the essentials that would sustain them during the Ramadan fasting period.
He said this gesture would further boost the palliative measures that government and corporate organisations have been doing to cushion the impact of the lockdown occasioned by the ravaging coronavirus pandemic.
According to him, the expectations of workers from their respective employers at this trying time are enormous, considering the financial responsibilities they have to cater for as they stay home.
He said, “It is not out of place for the government and the private sectors to pay workers their April salary now, essentially because of Ramadan.
“To a very large extent, people have demonstrated a high level of cooperation and compliance with the orders of government and precautionary measures of the NCDC. As a result, it is only ideal is for employers to show some level of empathy and compassion for their workers because we are first humans before any other thing,” Ashafa added.
He urged employers, particularly the government, to explore all avenues at deploying more strategies and welfare packages that would have “a direct positive impact on the lives of workers at this most difficult times”.
Ashafa equally exhorts the Muslim Ummah to see social distancing even in Ramadan as a necessary religious precept.
He enjoined Muslim faithful to use the fasting period to intercede for the end to coronavirus in Nigeria and other nations.
So far, Nigeria has recorded over 800 confirmed cases of COVID-19 pandemic.