By Rabiu Omaku, Lafia
Workers in Doma Local Government council of Nasarawa state in the early hours of Monday protested over the nonpayment of their one month salary by the council chairman.
The aggrieved workers including people confirmed to be mobs mounted a heavy barricade causing untold hardship to commuters plying the highway.
The protesting workers are hell bent on creating misperception if their demands were not meet, But at the time of filing this report no reported cases of casualties was recorded at the peaceful protest.
Our reporter who was at the scene of the demonstration discovered that hordes in the area hijacked the peaceful protest creating an organized confusion. The protest lasted for thirty minutes with the interference of the council chairman, Honorable Henry Omaku.
The chairman of Nigeria Union of Local Government Employee, Aliyu Abdul in an interview with selected journalist unfolded that the impasses over August salary has been resolved between Nulge and the council chairman.
“As I’m talking to the press now we are about holding a meeting with the Honorable chairman and anything we arrived at will be our resolution, He added.
But some aggrieved workers in the council expressed dismay over the nonpayment of their salaries by the chairman, According to him,”The chairman will not go to anywhere to source for money now, why was it that political appointees that are earning huge salary paid before us the carrier civil servants collecting meager wage ?.
The council chairman identified some of the loopholes of the council to shortfall in the monthly grant accrued to the Local government from the federation account, He attested that issue of inadequate staff salary was a statewide phenomenon.
He gave the hint at the Local Government guest House aftermath of the demonstration, Henry Omaku stated that the Local Government was running on negative when he took over on the 24th/03/2014 as an elected chairman.
“The Local Government was running on the negative of N22m and this drop to N14m,Our workers supposed to commend me for my effort to pay may salary, I know the protest was political motivated to create an unfavorable atmosphere for my administration”.
“This will not deter me from conducting my constitutional right as a chairman, Henry Omaku stated, The chairman also lament the presence of unprofessional staff in the health Department of the Local Government”, saying huge amount of money was going down the drain in the name of workers salary.
“Those workers are ghost workers because they did not fit in the system but they consume colossal amount of Local Government salary”.
On assumption office the state governor was augmenting our salary until suddenly the lingering stalemates between the chief executive and the House of Assembly members, The Assembly forbids the governor to augment Local Government salary with sure-p fund.
“In spite of our enormous challenges, I guarantee you we will overcome our nagging preponderances, Henry Omaku assured the workers union.
It could be recalled, The state governor,Umaru Tanko Al-Makura has revealed that the third tier of government in the state are insolvent, The governor stated this at the inauguration of Local Government chairmen at the Government House.
Al-Makura affirmed that few councils in the state are viable to settle the monthly wage bill of their workforce.
