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Tag: Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees

  • Council boss donates buses to staff, schools

    In his quest to promote improved service delivery within the Orile-Agege Local Council Development Area (LCDA), the Executive Chairman of the Council, Hon Johnson Sunday Babatunde recently donated a Toyota Hiace bus to staff of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Orile-Agege chapter.

    Addressing journalists shortly after the commissioning, the Council boss, who was in the company of the Vice Chairman/Supervisor for Education, Hon Kafilat Oluwatoyin Akanni-Pedro, Secretary of the LG, Hon. James Agboola and Mr. Isaac Ademole, Council Manager, said it was part of the Council’s welfarist agenda towards the staff.

    The Council chair who had earlier unveiled free public school busses for conveying pupils within the Orile-Agege and its environs, said the gesture was his own way of giving his people the dividends of democracy. “If we start sharing money now it won’t go round but we believe this one can go round. The children will benefit and it will take some certain burdens off their parents. Those parents that normally give their children money for transport, that is why we are giving this to them. And this is a meaningful dividend of democracy because it has an impact on the children because we are talking about their tomorrow. That is what we have been able to do with my own team.”

    The gesture, he say, extends to all the primary schools within his council area and environs. “In the morning we have designated them to go for about three or four times and same for afternoon. We are going to be responsible for the fuelling and that is part of our overhead cost.”

    Apart from the busses, the Council, he maintained, has provided exercise books for the pupils just as some of the schools within the neighbourhood have had a facelift as well as supply of furniture. “The whole idea is to make our public schools in real competition with the private by setting the pace for others to follow. What we want to do is to replicate some of the things in the private schools so that the public schools can be a lot better in terms of learning output and all that. Like what is happening at Zion now is that many people are withdrawing their wards from private schools to come into the public School.”

    In a related development, the Council also organised the Spelling Bee Competition for pupils of primary and junior secondary schools. The competition supervised by Quizmaster Olufemi Adeoti saw a lot of schools vying for honours.

    While declaring the event opened, the Vice Chairman/Supervisor for Education, Hon Kafilat Oluwatoyin Akanni-Pedro said the competition was bound to help the pupils improve in their studies.

    In her own remarks, Mrs. Mojisola Babatunde, the chairperson of the Spelling Bee Competition who recalled that schools within the Council have never won in the statewide competition said it hopes to win in future competition.

    At the end of the keenly contested completion, winners emerged for primary and secondary categories after the preliminaries. Master Bamidele Ahnas from St. Peters Blessed pry school won in the primary school category.

     

  • Ondo NULGE supports LG’s Autonomy

    Members of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) in Ondo State have hailed the decision of the federal government to grant financial autonomy to local governments in the country which will take effect from the first of next month.

    The State President of the Union, Bola Taiwo told reporters in Akure that the federal government’s directive for all local councils’ allocations to go straight to their respective bank accounts without passing through the Joint Allocation Account Committee (JAAC) or state governments was a welcome development.

    Taiwo who commended the administration of governor Akeredolu for not misappropriating the 18 local governments monthly allocations.

    He explained that the Central bank, EFCC, the newly set up National Financial Intelligence Unit, NFIU and other stakeholders would monitor the implementation of the local governments’ financial autonomy.

    According to him, special trainings would soon be organised for councils’ workers on how to enforce compliance and implement the autonomy.

    He however called for local government election in Ondo state and advocated law against the appointment of caretaker chairmen to pilot affairs of council areas as they were being used to siphon funds.

    Taiwo said the move was laudable because local government autonomy had been a priority of the union for long. “We are happy because this is a dream comes true. We have been yearning and agitating for this because autonomy to local government has been our priority, “he said.” The new guidelines serve as mechanisms that will safeguard, protect and allow for transparency in the local government joint account manage men,” He said.

    He applauded the state government for not diverting money meant for local councils in the state.

    The state NULGE President, therefore, enjoined the state government operating caretaker committees as administrators to desist, saying such step was not a true representation.

    He said setting up caretakers committee to man affairs of local council was another means of siphoning funds.

     

  • “We can’t use all allocations to pay Workers’ salaries – Akeredolu

    Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu on Wednesday lamented a situation where 90 per cent of N5b monthly allocations of the state is being expended on salaries, pension and other worker’s allowances.

    He noted that it would be difficult to meet other obligations such as employment of more primary school teachers, construction of roads, classrooms and other infrastructural projects.

    The governor made the declaration at Owode-Obaile in Akure North local government area of the state during the inauguration of NULGE Ultra-modern Resort constructed by the Ondo State leadership of Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE).

    Akeredolu expressed satisfaction with the state NULGE President, Dr Olubunmi Eniayewu and his team for initiating projects that had direct positive impacts on local government workers across the state.

    He noted that the present administration had been regularly releasing N200m to offset backlog of gratuities of retired public servants and payment of car loan for workers at both state and local government levels.

    Akeredolu, justifying his statement over his administration’s inability to pay workers’ leave allowance until when the State is buoyant which prompted a protest at this year’s May Day celebration in Akure on Tuesday,said it was not a big deal because it was a fundamental human right of every Nigerian to protest or disagree with government’s decision.

    He however said he would continue to act in the overall best interest of the state.

    The governor said “we earn about N5b every month, N4b goes for salaries, allowances, how do we address the problems of shortage of teachers in primary schools, how do we build classrooms, how do we provide transformers for communities without light, majority want their roads constructed. The current state of affairs is depressing”.

    “It is a tragic irony that some people now refer to our state as a civil service enclave where governance has been reduced, virtually, to payment of salaries, allowances, grants and subventions”, He said

    Akeredolu pointed out that “so, you can shout, you can protest, is your fundamental human right, you can remain in sun for days but I will not change my style in the interest of the majority. We are paying salaries regularly, workers must not be selfish, allow us to take care of other people in the state”.

    He maintained that out of over Six million people in the state,workers constituted only two percent,stressing that it would be unreasonable to spend the whole state monthly allocation to take care of workers at the expense of other stakeholders.

    Earlier, the NULGE President, Eniayewu said the Union’s recreational facilities started in 2015, and would facilitate easy training and retraining of more local government workers through seminars and entrepreneurial skills acquisition.

    The Union leader, who commended Akeredolu for prompt promotion of his members, however urged the State government to urgently approve the promotion of local government workers who were due in January, 2018.

  • 2019: Ugwuanyi, good governance and NULGE’s endorsement

    Few days ago, workers in the 17 local government councils in Enugu State, under the aegis of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) and LG pensioners, during a solidarity rally, unanimously endorsed Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi as their candidate for the 2019 governorship election in the state.

    At the colorful rally, which was attended by the National President of NULGE, Comrade Ibrahim Khaleel, the workers and retirees in an address delivered by the union’s state President, Comrade Kenneth Ugwueze, disclosed that the endorsement was “in appreciation of peace and good governance in Enugu State” and the governor’s “undeterred friendly disposition to labour”.

    They stated that Ugwuanyi “in less than three years in office wiped away our tears and assured us of a better future”, declaring: “We have come out today as the product of that mandate to overwhelmingly endorse you as our candidate for the 2019 governorship election in Enugu State”.

    The NULGE’s endorsement, which coincided with Gov. Ugwuanyi’s 54th birthday anniversary, was also seen as a birthday gift to the governor.

    NULGE National President, Comrade Khaleel, while upholding the stance of the union’s state chapter, described Ugwuanyi as a leader with “huge humility, vision and comradeship”.

    Similarly, the road transport workers under the auspicious of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) recently endorsed Ugwuanyi for re-election for peace and good governance.

    Born on March 20, 1964, Gov. Ugwuanyi turned 54 on Tuesday this week. The governor’s 54th birthday provided him with another opportunity to show, charity, love, care, solidarity and compassion with the lowly and downtrodden through his philanthropic gestures – a constant moral obligation in appreciation of God’s goodness and amazing grace to him as “Nwaogbenye”.

    No wonder the goodwill, acceptance and tremendous support he enjoys have remained unbeatable in the history of the state. He is well known for his open-door policy, inclusive leadership, and close contact with the masses.

    One is therefore, glad to note that the governor has in less than two and a half years in office received many commendations for his good works and uninfluenced endorsements for re-election in 2019 from virtually all major segments of the society, including leaders of religious institutions, chieftains of the opposition political parties, the state and local government workforce, traders, road transport workers, pensioners and artisans.

    His milestone feats in the provision of massive critical infrastructure across the state have been acknowledged and applauded by friends and foes alike.

    He has thus impacted positively on the lives of the people, especially the rural dwellers, rekindling their confidence in participatory democracy.

    For example, he has executed more landmark road projects in the rural areas and satellite towns, where the majority of the people reside, than in the urban centres. Road projects are on-going in places like Abakpa, Emene, Eha-Amufu, Amurri, Akpugo, Coal Camp, Ngenevu, Iva Valley, and so on.

    It is also on record that the state government has spent over N40 billion on road construction and rehabilitation across the state in the last two and a half years, covering over 240 kilometres.

    Few weeks ago, Ugwuanyi demonstrated his commitment to ensuring that meaningful development reached every nook and cranny of the state with the disbursement of N2.25 billion to 450 autonomous communities. That was the first tranche of the N10 million earmarked for every community in the state to execute development projects of their choice.

    The uniqueness and excitement of the scheme, christened “One Community, One Project,” the first of its kind in the state, are that the choice of the projects and their execution are left entirely to the discretion of the stakeholders of each community.  extensive rural development in the state.

    Recently also, his administration re-launched the state’s Traders Empowerment Scheme, with an annual bumper package of N120 million. This was up from the previous amount of N60 million at inception of the scheme, representing a 100 per cent increase. The idea is to assist traders in the state to grow their businesses.

    In the repackaged scheme, 200 genuine traders will now win N10 million every month at N50, 000 each, as against N5 million for 100 traders in the last scheme. Again, 17 other markets were added to the existing 37 to ensure that the empowerment scheme reached out to every nook and cranny of the state for more winners to benefit.

    He was recently commended by not only the Nigerian Army, but also the ex-servicemen in Enugu State for his government’s N19.6 million empowerment grants to 96 widows of fallen heroes residing in the state. The grant was to assist the families of those who died in the service of the country to start businesses of their choice and live a better life.

    Also, the people’s governor, as he is often called in the state, upon receiving the sad news of fire outbreak at the Kenyatta Timber Market, Enugu, had to end a meeting of the State Executive Council to visit the site. He ensured that adequate intervention was made to put off the inferno. The governor did not stop there. Within two days of the incident, he visited the market for the second time, and directed the immediate rebuilding of the affected 72 shops with a promise to assist owners of the shops with the sum of N7.2 million to enable them restart their businesses. “I am here to wipe away your tears,” he told the affected traders.

    It is also noteworthy that the governor’s wife, Mrs. Monica Ugwuanyi, has been very supportive of her husband. She has remained in the vanguard, propelling her husband’s philanthropic gestures, warming the people, particularly the poor and the less privileged, to participatory democracy through her pet project, Ugo Touch of Life Foundation (U-TOLF).

    In recognition of all these milestone achievements, which are the radiant bedrock of the governor’s 54th birthday anniversary celebration, one therefore, urges the people of Enugu State at home and abroad, as well as friends of the state in Nigeria and beyond to continue to support him to render more selfless services to humanity and hold on to his vision to build Enugu State of our founding fathers’ dream. Enugu State is truly in the hands of God.

    -Amoke is Senior Special Assistant on Media to the Enugu State Governor

  • NULGE decries slow action on Autonomy Bill

    …knocks Imo Assembly for voting against Bill

    The Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) has lampooned House of Assemblies in the Southeast zone over their indifference in handling the Local Government Autonomy Bill.

    He noted that while other states like Kwara, Benue, Niger, Plateau, Bauchi, Cross River, Bayelsa and Ogun states have voted for Local Government autonomy, the states in the Southeast are yet to conduct public hearing.

    The Union also knocked the Imo State Assembly for voting against the Bill, describing the decision by the lawmakers as unfortunate.

    NULGE also lampooned the Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha for not “equally putting his best to ensure the passage of the Bill”.

    Addressing newsmen at the NULGE Secretariat in Owerri, the Imo State capital, the National Auditor of the Union, Comrade Ayuba Shamdung Jepla, said that four states in the Southeast zone were just preparing to conduct public hearing on the bill.

    He accused the lawmakers of being insensitive to the plight of the people at the grassroots, who he said are the direct beneficiaries of the Local Government Autonomous Bill.

    Jepla also dismissed the earlier reason given by the Imo State House of Assembly for none passage of the bill, stating that “the defense was a mockery of the well-intended aim and objectives of the National Assembly with regards to Local Government Autonomous Bill”.

    According to him, “the Union unequivocally condemns the none passage of the Local Government Autonomous Bill by the Imo State House of Assembly as it is not only retrogressive, undemocratic but a calculated plan to enthrone abject poverty and misery in the third tier of government”.

    The Union however appreciated the State House of Assemblies that voted in favour of the bill, describing them as “partners in progress”.

  • NASS to support local government autonomy

    NASS to support local government autonomy

    Speaker House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara, on Tuesday in Abuja said the National Assembly was committed to ensuring that local government administration in the country got autonomy.

    He made this known at the Retreat of the Secretary to Government of the Federation ( SGF ) and Secretaries to State Governments ( SSGs ).

    Represented Chief Whip of the House, Mr Ado Doguwa, he spoke on “Local Government Autonomy: Imperative for Sustainable Grassroots Development’’, said autonomy was the right for local governments to operate independently.

    He said that autonomy for the councils was essential for development to get to the grassroots.

    “As long as we want development to get to the door-step of our people, the autonomy is necessary.

    “This is the institutional position of the national assembly in line with the provisions of the law.

    “The national assembly will continue to remain resolute to ensure that local government autonomy is achieved in Nigeria.

    “We will continue to take advantage of the legislative right given to us to ensure that local government autonomy is realised.

    “The local government chairmen are in bondage inflicted on them by the governors and this bondage must be released to ensure development at the grassroots level,’’ he said.

    According to the speaker, the state governments abuse the Constitution in relation to the Joint Account, which they are meant to be mere trustees and not beneficiaries.

    Read also: How local government can get autonomy, by Oyo Speaker

    He explained that state governments took over the joint account meant for the state and the local government.

    “The state government which are believed to be mature must be seen to be doing exactly what the Constitution has stipulated in relation to the joint account.

    “If this is not done, the right thing will not be achieved.’’

    Dogara commended the SGF, Mr Boss Mustapha, for resuscitating the retreat.

    Earlier, Mr Ibrahim Khaleed, President, Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees ( NULGE ), had said that rural-urban migration would greatly be addressed through the actualisation of local government autonomy.

    Khaleed added that local government was a critical tier in government, and that some constitutional reforms must be made to bridge the gap between the government and the people.

    According to him, the local government system in Nigeria has been destroyed and the essence of local government establishment is not achieved.

    “Local government was established to bring development to the citizens at the local area, but the system has completely been bastardised and the essence of its establishment has not been achieved.

    “We are advocating for autonomy not because of increase in wages or welfare for staff but to make sure we contribute our quota in national development.

    “The local government system in the United States of America is one of the best and it is independent,’’ Khaleed said.

    NAN

  • Gunmen kidnap NULGE VP in Abia

    Gunmen kidnap NULGE VP in Abia

    Yet-to-be identified gunmen have reportedly kidnapped the Vice President of the Abia State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, (NULGE), Comrade Ikechi Nwaigwe, in Aba, the commercial hub of the state.

    Nation was told that Nwaigwe was abducted at about 7.30pm on Tuesday at his residence located at the Federal Housing Estate, Ogbor Hill, some distance from the heart of the business town.

    Sources said that the gunmen who may have trailed and laid ambush near the man’s house, struck as he was trying to drive into his residence, whisking him away to yet-to-be identified place.

    Until the time of filing this report, it wasn’t clear if the gunmen had established communication with the victim, but a source within the area where the incident happened, who pleaded anonymity narrated that the NULGE VP had arrived at the gate of his residence at the Estate blowing horns for his family members to open the gate for him not knowing that the gunmen had laid ambush for him.

    “As soon as his son came out to open the gate, the gunmen attacked Nwaigwe and pushed him inside his car. They beat up his son before speeding off with him in his car,” the source stated.

    Another source hinted that a Toyota Camry belonging to the man that the kidnappers fled with has been recovered.

    The source further claimed that the kidnappers have also established contact with his family, demanding ransom of N2m to have their breadwinner back.

    Abia State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) ASP Ogbonnaya Nta couldn’t be reached on his line for reaction on the matter.

     

  • Ortom debunks rumour of workers retrenchment

    Ortom debunks rumour of workers retrenchment

    Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has dismissed widespread rumour that his administration was planning to downsize the state’s workforce because of economic constraints.

    Governor Ortom who stated this while fielding questions from journalists at the end  of the meeting he held with officials of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Trade Union Congress, TUC, Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE  and affiliate unions at Benue Peoples House, Makurdi, said the  meeting addressed the problem of non-payment of salaries.

    Governor Ortom said the difficulties he has faced in paying salaries arose as a result of the dwindling allocation to the state which dropped to N1.3 billion and explained that the allocation was too meager to meet the challenges confronting the state.

    He maintained that Benue workers contributed immensely to his emergence as governor, and reiterated that he has no intention to downsize the workforce even in the face of economic challenges.

    “I am not thinking of downsizing the workforce for now, we are thinking of industrializing the state so that even civil servants can go into the industries and forget about civil service; workers in Benue state are part of me, they contributed immensely in making me governor, and there is no way I will toy with their welfare,” he added.

    He said, the only way the state can wriggle out of the quagmire is to borrow money to offset the backlog of unpaid salaries of workers who are the ‘drivers of the economy’.

    In separate interviews, the state Chairman of NLC, Comrade Godwin Anya, as well as his NULGE and TUC counterparts, urged the state governor to obtain more loans to clear workers’ salaries.

    “I support the idea that the governor should borrow money again to clear workers’ salaries because as long as we live, we cannot die because there is no money, so, if it means borrowing one hundred times, NLC will agree that government should go ahead and borrow”, Anya said.

    On his part, the state NULGE Chairman, Mr. Terungwa Igbe, also supported the move to obtain another loan to pay workers, stressing that local government workers needed to be paid.