Enasco Eben Kingsley, Benin
Staff of Egor local government council of Edo State on Monday May 4, 2015 staged a protest in Benin City to press home their demands for six month salaries owed workers of the council by the local government boss, Comrade Victor Enobakhare.
The protest which was peacefully carried out by the aggrieved workers was done to demonstrate their frustration over refusal of the LG Boss to pay them their monthly entitlement.
The National Reformer newspaper gathered that, the call requesting for the payment has become imperative as workers of the council now subjected to leave from hand to mouth and further their marital obligations.
While speaking to newsmen in Benin, the leader of the group, Abdul Fatai Osagie was in total tears and wonder the rationale behind the insistence and ungodly attitude of the local government Boss to refuse paying them.
According to him, “we can no longer bear the risk and we have resolved as a body to demand for our rights. For six-month running our salaries have not been paid. We have been owed for six-month for no genuine reasons. The chairman has been furnishing the loan he obtained to purchase the inter-city mass transit buses with the council allocation meant for our salary payments. We listened to state government claims that till this moment they do not owe any council. The council boss has a family and he cannot tell them he would not feed them. Comrade Enobakhare collects security votes every month from the allocation but he prefers to do it at the detriment of the workers welfare.
Comrade Osagie however, lamented over some of the ills beclouding the administration of Comrade Enobakhare the LGA Boss.
“The council collects money from the proceeds of the buses and yet refuses to pay us. Taxes are collected but yet he refuses to do the needful. All we keep hearing is I spend the money I realize from the buses on it to keep it working. We are tired and call for his removal.
We use this medium to call on all stakeholders in the struggle to help us out as we no longer have value before our families. We urge him to pay us our salaries otherwise, we would get our cooking stoves and pots and stay at the council until he respond and do the needful”, hesaid.
However, several attempts made to get comments from the trouble LG boss on the allegations against him by the council workers proved abortive as he was allegedly out on official engagement as at the time of this report.
