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.”

Source: Punch