Edo LG workers protest, demand eight months’ salaries
Edo LG workers protest,
demand eight months’
salaries
Hundreds of local government workers,
under the aegis of the Nigerian Union of
Local Government Employees in Edo
State, on Tuesday protested against the
non-payment of their salaries by 16 local
government areas.
The protesters, who were all dressed in
black, marched around the Ring Road
area of Benin, the Edo State capital, with
placards, causing gridlock for several
hours, before heading for the Nigerian
Union of Journalists Press Centre.
It was learnt that some of the protesters
also smashed the windscreen of a taxi
cab, whose driver attempted to drive
through their midst.
They also shouted down council
chairmen, who tried to address them at
the State Civil Service Secretariat in
Benin.
The state NULGE Chairman, Edward
Young, said most of the employees were
being owed between one and eighth
months.
Young, who alleged that the workers had
been subjected to “abandonment and
inhuman treatment” explained that
several negotiations and appeals by the
union had failed to produce any useful
result.
He listed the defaulting councils to
include the Oredo, Ikpoba Okha, Egor,
Igbogbazuwa, Okada, Orhionmwon and
Uhunmwode.
Others are Igueben, Esan West, Auchi,
Fugar, Igarra, Sabongida Ora and Esan
Central.
The NULGE chairman lamented that the
union had lost “a lot” of its members due
to “lack of medical care.” He wondered
why the salaries of the affected workers
had yet to be paid when employees
under the State Universal Basic
Education Board had been paid.
He, therefore, called on the state
government to take responsibility for the
payment of the teachers to allow the
LGA to pay them.
He vowed that the aggrieved workers
would continue to demand their salaries
by organising protests every Tuesday
and Thursday until further notice.
Young said, “We want to say that when
the allocation comes every month,
teachers (SUBEB) would be paid first,
while the local government workers
would be asked to wait.
“So we resolved that we want to take
our destiny into our own hands. We have
lost a lot of our members as a result of
lack of medical care; the few of us that
are left will not die in silence. We are
tired of non-payment of salaries.
“To solve this lingering salary problem in
Edo State, the state government must
take the responsibility for the payment of
teachers’ salaries, so that the councils
can pay its workers’ salaries.
“You can see from our banner that the
local government currently pays 100 per
cent salary to teachers.”
Newsweb Express
