The Edo State chapter, Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), has decried the non-payment of their outstanding salary and other deductibles owed council workers and the union which they said have run into billions of Naira.
The union called on the state government and Heads of Local Government Administration of the 18 local governments to commence the payment of all the arrears and other deductions to avoid workers’ face-off.
Expressing the workers’position to reporters in Benin City, the Edo State union chapter Chairman, Comrade Lazarus Imokhai Adorolo, said the workers have had enough and could no longer bear the hardship.
Adorolo said: “Our compilations and findings have shown that the 18 local government are owing the workers N4,295,828,643.53. Our expectations are that as the allocation improves, there ought to be corresponding improvement in the payment of outstanding salary arrears and outstanding deductions. Instead, some have managed to pay one and half months, others have only paid half while some have only paid percentage of one month, a situation that is worrisome and if we cannot help ourselves who will help us?”
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Beside, he said the councils were owing his colleagues deductable arrears of over N89 million.
The Edo NULGE chairmansaid: “With the proceeds from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) shared for October 2021, there is no reason for the councils’ supposed inability to commence offsetting these arrears except otherwise that is unknown to us.
“We know that in recent times, the allocation to Councils is improving while their expenditure has dropped as there are no political office holders whose bills would have eaten deep into the revenue. So, why are they not paying, or is there something that someone is not telling us as a union?
“We expect constant interaction so that we can all be on the same page before the continuous harmony elude us as the union leadership is under serious pressure to take the bull by the horn,” Adorolo added.