By Amos Igbebe, Asaba
There appears to be no end in sight for the strike embarked upon by council workers in Delta State as the state governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, Thursday, exonerated the state government from the cash crunch affecting the councils.
Dr. Uduaghan said the state government should not be blamed for the strike as it is not responsible for the payment of salaries to the council workers, and that funds from the federation account accruing to the councils are fully remitted to them every month.
Council workers in the 25 council areas of the state under the auspices of National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) had last Monday commenced an indefinite strike over backlog of salaries owed them by the councils.
President of NULGE, David Ofoeyeno who called for the strike, said the workers were being owed four months salaries, insisting that the strike would not be called-off until the arrears were paid.
A source close to local government council chairmen in the state told journalists that the council henchmen were in support of the strike, claiming that allocations to the councils were not being remitted but allegedly diverted at the state level.
But Uduaghan debunked speculations that allocations due to the councils were being diverted, explaining that not only that the allocations were fully remitted every month, the state government also augment the allocation to the tune of N580 million monthly so that primary school teachers could be paid.
“The state government does not pay workers’ salaries. All the funds from the Federation Account belonging to local councils are fully remitted to them every month. The state government even augments this fund with about N580 million monthly so that primary school teachers can be paid,” Uduaghan said.
