Unpaid Salaries: Kwara NULGE Withdraws Ultimatum

The Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) in
Kwara has withdrawn the 14-day ultimatum it gave the state government over
unpaid salaries of council workers.

Mr Abayomi Afolabi, the NULGE State Secretary, disclosed
this to newsmen in Ilorin after a meeting involving officials of the state
government, state ALGON executive committee and NULGE on Wednesday.

Our correspondent reports that the state NULGE had given the
state government a 14-day notice of a strike if it failed to ensure the payment
of salaries owed its members.

Afolabi said the union had reached an understanding with the
state government, and that government had agreed to pay all outstanding
salaries to the workers.

“A communication gap between labour and the government
caused the issuance of the ultimatum,’’ the NULGE official said.

He however said it would be wrong for anybody to insinuate
that the union members were being used or manipulated by opposition parties in
the state.

Afolabi said local government workers should not be denied
their entitlements because majority of those who elected those in government
were at the grass roots.

The NULGE Secretary said the union was not opposed to the
bio-metric verification of the workers’ identity as well as the joint project
account in the state.

“We only frown at the non-payment of salaries,’’ he said.

Afolabi expressed the belief that all the issues raised
during the meeting would go a long way to bring about development,
accountability and value for money in the local government areas.

Also speaking to newsmen at the end of the meeting, the
Commissioner for Finance, Mr Ademola Banu, said the meeting yielded fruitful
discussion.

He appealed to the workers to show more understanding with
the local government system in the state.

The commissioner explained that the delay in salary payment
was caused by late release of federal allocation to the state in the past few
months.

“The shortfall in the federal allocation had brought about a
fundamental challenge, which called for concerted efforts of all stakeholders
in the state,’’ he said.

Banu assured that the meeting between the two sides would be
made regular to bridge the communication gap.