The Rantings  Of Rivers ALGON

For the first time in the last eight years , one can observe a moribund  and toothless,  Association  of Local  Government of Nigeria, Rivers State Chapter trying to lull the people of Rivers State in believing that  it exists, that it is versed and abreast with the provisions  of the 1999 Constitution  of the Federal  Republic of Nigeria (as amended), knowledgeable  about subsisting  judicial  pronouncements on  the Local government administration  matters by courts of competent jurisdiction,  and it has workers  and. the people’s  welfare at heart.
These wrong impressions  can be deduced from the text of the Press Conference  delivered by the Association  last week.
Despite the window dressing  and cosmetic posture   that the Association  of Local Government of Nigeria, Rivers Sttate chapter wants to impress on the people and residents of Rivers State,  it is crystal clear that workers at the Third Tier of  Government  have not fared well in the last eight years of the repressive  and workers unfriendly  immediate past administration  in the State.
While workers at the State were fortunate to have a controversial minimum  wage paid to them, local Government  workers did not benefit from the N30,000 Minimum  Wage which became a legal instrument  about six years until March 2024, following  a directive by the Executive  Governor,  Sir Siminalayi  Fubara,  to Local Government chairmen in the State to immediately  implement the minimum wage,  wage award and  promote workers.
Where was.the Legal Adviser  of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria, whose statutory  responsibility it  was to advise the former  Rivers State. Governor  that it is  an affront on the sensibilities of  workers and fragrant.breach of extant law  to not pay minimum  wage to workers at.the 23 Local Government councils.
Civil servants at the State and Local Government  councils were not promoted and did not benefit from the annual incremental credit for about ten years. The incremental credit is a paltry and very insignificant  amount compared to the inputs of workers to drive implementation of government  policies and programmes and what elective office holders take home within the comparable period.
I had expected a “concerned  and workers-friendly ‘ Association  of Local Government in the State to midwife the promotion of workers, implementation  of Minimum wage  and fulfill their statutory  obligations to the workers and the people at the local government  areas whose resources they hold in trust and on whose behest they are in power.
It therefore  beats my imagination that    Local  Government  Chairmen  of ALGON,  who are products of  the ballot and not  appointees of the former governor lost their “Executive” status and played the second  fiddle role. Even when there was unconfirmed tampering  of local government funds, they could not  protest or raise an eye brow.
How the people who were cowardly and timid before the former  administration  in the State  suddenly  cultivated and imbibed the effrontry  and temerity to hold a Press Conference attempting to disparage the performing  and conscientious  Sir Siminalayi Fubara-led administration  leaves much to be desired  and a bad taste in the mouth of all patriotic  and truthful  Rivers people.
I expected the self serving chairmen  under the aegis of the Association  of Local Government  of Nigeria to brace up to the challenges of seeming derecognition and denial of their right of expression as elected chairmen by the former administration  in the State.
While the ALGON has the legitimacy  to contest violation  of,  or infringement on their interests, such protest should not be seen as selective. Between  1999 and 2003,  the Association  of Local Government  of.Nigeria in Rivers State was vociferous  and so  alive to its onus that they rejected allocations  that did not reflect the true figures of what the local government councils deserved from the Joint Account Allocation  Committee  (JAAC). That was when ALGON was keen and committed  to the essence  of its formation. That was a real workers-friendly ALGON.
However, with the advent of crude and uncivilised godfatherism that circumvented real democratic processes for manipulative and coercive selection that ultimately  produced  unpopular candidates of the godfather,  chairmen were reduced to puppets, playing  subservient  roles for their benefactors instead of protecting  the interest and welfare of workers and the people of their local government areas, who they ought to represent.
Having therefore failed to speak up for workers and defend the welfare of the people of their local government areas, at a time they were oppressed,  the association  in my candid opinion  does not have the  moral justification to  cry fowl against the present  administration  in  Rivers State whose policies and programmes so far, reveal that the governor  understands  that  the legitimacy  of his administration  is  derived from the people, so he is accountable to  them by putting in place infrastructure that will give fresh breath to a people who are recuperating from  the suffocation  of repressive  and coercive  governance.
Sir Siminalayi Fubara  is today a messiah to workers in Rivers State. Local government. workers are .being paid minimum wage, promoted and duly placed at their appropriate levels after 10 years of no promotion.
Civil servants  in the State are sure of receiving  their pensions immediately  after retirement  from service  which was a marked. departure from previous  administration.
Rather than vilifying or  demonising the present  administration  in the State, the Association  of  Local Government of.Nigeria, Rivers State should thank the  Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara,  for doing in less than one year what their grand master could not  do for them and workers in eight  years.
Remember, everyone will stand in the court of history  and posterity  to account for their  actions and inactions  in office.

Igbiki Benibo