Abia state government has assured that backlog of salary arrears owed council workers by the 17 local governments in the state would be cleared before the end of the year as the formula evolved to solve the problem was yielding positive result.
The assurance is coming on the heels of a threat by the council workers to embark on industrial action if nothing positive happened to ameliorate their suffering after their prayer session Penultimate Friday across the 17 local governments for divine intervention.
Council workers in Abia have been groaning under huge salary arrears owed them which assumed a worrisome dimension since this year as many local governments could not meet their obligations to the workers with months passing by.
But Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, High Chief Johnny Ukpabi, said the debt profile of the respective councils have reduced drastically with the application of the suspend projects–for-salary arrears formula which saw six local governments clearing the arrears owed workers last month
Ukpabi told The Tide in his office that Governor T.A. Orji gave a directive that local governments should suspend execution of projects pending when the workers salaries were cleared.
Following the directive, he said he called a stakeholders meeting which endorsed that 55 per cent of excess crude revenue accruing to each local government should be used to pay salary arrears owed workers; 20 per cent to political office holders including councilors; 10 per cent to servicing of bank debts, another 10 per cent for contractors and 5 per cent for royal fathers.
”Only three local governments did not owe their workers when I assumed office. His Excellency directed that excess crude revenue be used to pay salaries rather than execution of projects.
”I called a meeting of the 17 council chairmen, the councilors and the Nigeria Union of Local government Employees (NULGE) and they endorsed the directive by the governor. Almost 99 per cent of the local governments complied. As at August, nine local governments have paid their workers in full out of which five do not owe both workers and the banks,” Ukpabi said.
He said that the governor has equally directed that the formula be retained until the workers’ arrears were cleared.
He said that his Ministry has initiated steps to rid the councils of ghost workers syndrome by authorising that only workers who come to work and were physically present at pay points should be paid salaries.
Reacting to the threat by NULGE to call out the council workers on industrial action, Ukpabi said they should exercise patience, adding that God has answered their prayers with the rise in oil prices.
The commissioner challenged NULGE to fashion out ways of improving the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) capacity of the councils from which the local government could equally pay salaries, not just to rely solely on what comes from the federal government.
Ukpabi said he shared the sentiments of the Chairman of Abia state chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Lucky Akabuike, who vowed that council workers would thwart the ambition of non-performing council chairmen planning to come back for a second term.