LG staff heckle Oshiomhole over 8 months unpaid salaries

Local Government workers in Edo State on Tuesday embarked on a protest to ask for the payment of their salaries, which they said they had not received in the last eight months.

The workers in their thousands, dressed in black brought traffic at the ever-busy Oba Ovoranmen Square in Benin City to a standstill for several hours.

The workers under the umbrella of NULGE drawn from the eighteen local government areas of the state were armed with placards with various inscriptions.

Physically challenged persons including nursing mothers also joined in the protest that lasted for several hours.

The NULGE President, Comrade Young Ilenikhena said local government workers in Edo State are owed backlog of salaries spanning between one to eight months.

He said the union had carried out dialogues and followed the rules of engagement with the government on the issue but to no avail, hence the protest.

Comrade Ilenikhena said the protest is to attract public sympathy stressing that the protest will hold every Tuesday until the salaries are paid.

He said of the eighteen local government areas, only two have paid their workers up to date.

The Edo State NULGE boss threatened that if their demands are not met after several protests, they will be left with no other option but to down tools.

Other NULGE members said life has become unbearable for them as they have been subjected to hardship due to non-payment of their salaries for many months.

Efforts by the Chairmen of Oredo and Egor Local Governments to address the workers at the Office of the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs were rebuffed as the workers said the Chairmen had no moral justification to address them as his was among local governments owing workers various months of salaries.

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