Okpalaume Mary, Sapele

The Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees has threatened to embark on an indefinite strike action if the nonpayment of local government workers is not quickly addressed pointing that the workers are unhappy over the issue.

This was revealed by the chairman of NULGE, Sapele Local Government secretariat, Comrade Ejiro Odebala, at his office in Sapele during a chat with newsmen.

Odebala who said going on strike may be the last resort of the union said the NULGE state body came to the decision after a recent state executive meeting in Asaba, the state capital.

He lamented the present state of things in the council stating that the workers, apart from being owed their salaries since august 2014, are undergoing hardships in the daily running of the secretariat as the power supply has been cut off owing to nonpayment of culminated electricity bills added to the almost crippling of activities in the council.

This was evidenced due to the untidy nature of the council secretariat as it was littered with dirt, unkempt flowers and uncontrolled weeds. Also, workers were seen loitering the council premises rather than busy with their work.

“Our pains at the moment have to do with our salaries. We cannot be seen as happy workers who come to work without salaries for over five months now. We come to this work for coming sake. In the shortest possible time if the matter is not addressed, the councils will be closed; we will be out of work for a while.”

He however encouraged the workers to continue to come to work promising that the NULGE will continue to appeal to both the state governor and the presidency to look into the problem of local government councils in Delta State and to see to how our salaries is paid punctually and regularly.”

Comrade Odebala commended the delta state government for its proposed introduction of biometric machines to the twenty-five local government councils saying that it will help to monitor attendance of workers as well as fish out ghost workers.

According to him, “It is only lazy workers who do not come to work that are grumbling about the introduction of the biometric machine. If I get my daily bread from the local government council, it is also expected that I come to work.”